Family Matters: Volume 2
by nyislandersgirl
Summary: A collection of future Ash/Misty one shots based loosely on my other stories. Continuation of the original Family Matters series.
1. Oh Brothers

**Hey guys! Welcome to Family Matters: Volume 2! I am so excited to be bringing you the same one shots you all remember from the original collection, but in a new set! As I wrote in my A/N at the end of the original Family Matters, I'm posting this on the 6th anniversary of posting the original collection, so I thought now was a great time to start anew!**

 **Now, please enjoy the first chapter of the new collection of Family Matters!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 9 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 3 years old**

* * *

 **Oh Brothers**

"Weaw this bow!"

"What? No way! I'm not putting that girly thing in my hair!"

Elizabeth pulled back with a pout on her face. She was standing in front of the couch Aiden was sitting on, holding a red bow in her hands. It was one that she had picked out specifically for her brother because of the color.

"But you wike wed!" Elizabeth cried.

"Yeah, but not when it's a _bow_ ," Aiden grumbled. "Bring me a baseball hat and I'll wear that."

Elizabeth scrunched her nose up at the suggestion. "I don't has that!"

"Well, I'm not wearing that bow," Aiden scoffed.

Elizabeth scowled in response. "You hafta for the tea pawty!"

"I already said I don't want to play tea party," Aiden groaned.

"Why?" Elizabeth whined.

"Because it's _girly_ , just like your bow," Aiden replied. "And I don't like girly things!"

"Would you guys keep it down?"

Aiden and Elizabeth looked towards the doorway of the living room, where Michelle was standing with her hands on her hips.

"I'm trying to work on a project and you're both distracting me," Michelle huffed.

"Oh blah blah blah," Aiden droned. "We don't all _live_ for homework like you do."

"Yeah!" Elizabeth squealed. "No homewowk!"

"Elizabeth, you don't even go to school yet," Aiden grumbled.

"It's not a project for _school_ ," Michelle sighed. "It's a personal project!"

"That just makes it worse," Aiden remarked.

Narrowing her eyes, Michelle continued, "One of the best ways to learn about Pokémon is to study them. Right now, I want to learn more about the differences between boy and girl Pokémon. So I'm comparing a bunch of different Pokémon to see what the differences are between the boys and the girls!"

"That's it?" Aiden deadpanned. "Why couldn't you do something more interesting?"

Michelle dramatically rolled her eyes. "This _is_ interesting. Just because you don't get it doesn't mean it's boring."

Elizabeth suddenly squealed and flitted towards Michelle, her green eyes sparkling with excitement. "I wanna help, Shelly!"

Aiden's brow furrowed, while Michelle's face lit up. "You want to help me with my project?"

Elizabeth emphatically nodded her head.

"Great!" Michelle giggled. "I was just going to start comparing Nidorino and Nidorina. You can help me find all the differences!"

"One's pink and one's blue!" Elizabeth cried.

Michelle gasped playfully and set a devious look on her twin brother. "Look at that. She's already great at it!" Reaching down, Michelle gently grabbed her sister's hand and beckoned, "come on, Lizzie. Let's combine our girl power and get to work!"

"Yay!" Elizabeth giggled, happily following after Michelle into the kitchen.

Aiden growled and sunk deeper into the couch. The front door then opened up, Misty walking in through the foyer with Vaporeon trailing at her feet. The two had just finished their morning run, as evidenced by the workout clothes Misty was wearing. She entered the living room and let out a tired breath before smiling at her son. "Hi, Aiden!"

The boy turned his head and frowned at his mother. "Why couldn't you have had two more boys instead of girls?"

Misty's smile turned into one that was far more wry. She certainly hadn't been expecting to walk in and get _that_ question. "Well, that's not really something I got to decide, you know."

"I'd have a lot more fun if I had brothers," Aiden grumbled.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Aiden," Misty replied.

"Michelle and Elizabeth don't like any of the same things I do!" Aiden cried. "Michelle's too calm, and Elizabeth's too girly. And then they team up and I'm outnumbered!"

Misty smirked and sat down on the couch beside her son. "You know, I wanted the exact same thing when I was younger."

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "You wanted brothers instead of sisters?"

Misty hummed and nodded her head.

"But why?" Aiden asked. "You're a girl. It must've been fun for you to have sisters."

"No, not really," Misty refuted. "My sisters have always been a bit too girly for my liking. I wanted to play outside when I was a kid, not try on a bunch of different clothes and experiment with make-up. I thought that if I had brothers, I wouldn't be surrounded by glitter and squealing all the time, and I'd have people who wanted to do the things _I_ liked."

Aiden narrowed his eyes in thought. "Wait, so if you never liked glitter and all that other girly stuff, how do you put up with Lizzie?"

Misty snickered at the question. "It's easier to deal with when it's your own kid."

"Oh," Aiden murmured. "I guess that makes sense."

"My point is, your sisters love you, and you love them," Misty continued. "I know that sometimes you can all get on each other's nerves. That's what siblings do. But that doesn't change the fact you all care about each other a whole lot."

Aiden grimaced. His mother wasn't wrong. He _did_ love his sisters. But…that still didn't stop him from wondering what it would be like to have brothers instead.

"Do you at least think Lizzie will ever stop trying to put bows in my hair?" Aiden questioned. "Or forcing me to go to her tea parties?"

Misty hemmed and hawed for a moment before slowly (and unsurely) responding, "Maybe in a few years?"

Aiden groaned and buried his face in his hands.

 **XXX**

"You're lucky you have _any_ siblings! I _wish_ I had a sister to hang out with."

"Fine, you can have one of mine," Aiden replied before tossing the baseball to Brandon. The two had met up in Cerulean Park for a bit of catch, and Aiden had recanted to Brandon his morning of having to deal with Michelle and Elizabeth.

"I'm not gonna take one of your sisters," Brandon chuckled.

"Why not?" Aiden questioned. "You can pick either one! Both have some good stuff and some bad stuff about 'em. Elizabeth takes a little bit more work, though. Just to warn you."

"Could you imagine if I came home with a whole –nother person?" Brandon wondered aloud, examining the baseball that was sitting in his glove. "My parents would _freak!_ "

"They think my sisters are cute, I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

"I think if they wouldn't mind so much, they would've had another kid already," Brandon reasoned with his best friend, tossing the ball back. "I guess I shouldn't complain. I've got so many cousins that I can barely keep track of them. And I don't have to live with them!"

"See? Even my cousins are girls!" Aiden whined. "There are six of us, and I'm the _only_ boy. Maybe somebody put a curse on my family or something."

"A curse?" Brandon repeated incredulously.

"Well yeah," Aiden replied. "I only have sisters, and girl cousins. My mom only has sisters. My dad doesn't have any brothers or sisters so he doesn't count."

"Then how'd your mom have you?" Brandon questioned.

"Cause _I'm_ the one that was supposed to be cursed," Aiden sighed as though it were obvious. "I'm surrounded by girls _all the time!_ "

"I'd _love_ to be surrounded by girls all the time," Brandon scoffed.

"Yeah, until they start trying to put bows in your hair," Aiden grumbled, trudging towards a nearby bench.

"I don't know, I don't think you'd have as much fun if you had brothers," Brandon mused, running to catch up with Aiden. "I mean, isn't it kind of fun to be the only boy?"

"Kind of," Aiden murmured, shrugging his shoulders. "Sometimes I get extra attention and stuff. But I don't really care about that. I just wish sometimes I had siblings who were more like me."

"Hey, at least you've got me!" Brandon cheered, throwing his arm over Aiden's shoulders. The raven haired boy chuckled in return.

"Yeah, I do!" Aiden agreed. "And you're the best friend I could ever ask for, Brand-o!"

"We're kind of like brothers anyway," Brandon continued, tapping his chin with his opposite hand. "Since neither of us actually have one, we might as well be!"

"That's true too," Aiden conceded, his smile widening just a bit.

 **XXX**

Still, as he lay in bed that night, Aiden just couldn't get the idea out of his head. He knew it would be a whole lot different if he had two brothers instead of two sisters. But he didn't actually know if it'd be as strange as everyone was insisting it would be. After all, he didn't know what it was like to even have _one_ brother. And he did still wonder what it would be like to live with someone who was just like him. Someone aside from his father, at least.

Aiden yawned and rolled over onto his side, nestling his head deeper into his pillow as his eyes began to slip closed, and his mind continued to wander…

" _Hey! Wake up!"_

 _Aiden nearly shot out of bed as soon as he felt something roughly jab him in the back. The boy whipped around with a glare on his face, one that quickly melted away into shock when he realized he was face-to-face with another boy._

" _Uh…what?" Aiden stammered._

" _You're so lazy," the other boy scoffed, his bright red hair falling over his emerald eyes._

" _Who are you?" Aiden questioned, sitting upright. "And what are you doing jumping on me and calling me lazy?!"_

" _Great, so now you're gonna play dumb too?" The other boy complained._

" _Aiden! Michael! Breakfast!"_

 _The other boy, Michael apparently, started to cheer and gave Aiden one final shove before jumping off his bed and running out of the room. Aiden just lay on his back and stared up at the ceiling, his brow furrowed._

"… _what?"_

 _He eventually managed to force himself out of bed and downstairs, still feeling very confused. He was definitely in his house, but Aiden had definitely never seen that redheaded boy before. That same boy was already sitting at the table, filling his plate with tons of food._

" _Aiden, you'd better start filling up your own plate before your brothers eat everything."_

 _The black haired boy blinked hard and looked over at the counter, where his mother was standing._

" _Uh…my brothers?" Aiden repeated._

" _Bam! Bam! Bam!"_

 _Misty groaned and squeezed the bridge of her nose. "Eli, cut it out and sit down!"_

 _It was then that Aiden realized another boy, this one smaller than him and Michael and with darker red hair, was standing nearby and whacking one of the legs of the table with a small baseball bat._

" _But I'm pwayin- baseball!" He whined._

" _Well it's breakfast time, not baseball time," Misty scolded. "Sit down and eat, and_ then _you can play baseball. I'm sure even Michael and Aiden will play with you!"_

" _Yeah, we can play baseball!" Michael assured, stuffing a forkful of waffle into his mouth and swallowing it just as quickly._

" _Oh, so you guys like baseball too!" Aiden exclaimed, earning bewildered looks from everyone else in the room._

" _Duh," Michael droned. "Especially since I'm better than both of you!"_

 _Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Better? Than me? I don't think so."_

" _That's because you live in denial," Michael argued, causing Aiden to scrunch up his nose. "You're like the worst baseball player in all of Kanto! Anyone who's ever had to watch you play ends up wanting to gouge their eyes out."_

" _Michael!" Misty snapped._

" _What?" Michael drawled, feigning innocence. "It's just the truth."_

" _Morning guys!"_

 _Ash came strolling into the kitchen, just as he normally would. He ruffled Aiden's hair before sitting down at the table, eyeing the redheaded boy's plate across from him._

" _I hate it when you get a head start," Ash sighed._

" _You should get down here faster!" Michael snickered._

 _As Ash began to fill his own plate, Eli finally sat down just as Misty had requested, and began to copy every move Ash made. Aiden, who quickly recognized this as something he had done at that age, began to feel even more uncomfortable as he took his normal seat at the table. By the time he was ready to begin gathering his own food, however, everything was basically gone._

" _Already?" Misty sighed, having walked over to the table. "That was even faster than usual…"_

" _Do you have any more?" Aiden asked, eyeing the counter from his seat._

" _No, that's all that I made," Misty admitted. "I thought it was more than enough! I really can't keep up with your appetites. I'm sorry, Aiden. I'll get us some cereal."_

 _Aiden's jaw dropped as his mother sauntered over to the cabinet. Normally_ he _was the one gorging himself at every meal! Now he had to play second fiddle to everyone else and settle for cereal from a box?_

" _So Dad, after breakfast can we play some catch?" Michael asked._

" _Of course!" Ash chuckled. "You know that's one of my favorite parts of the day!"_

" _Mine too!" Aiden agreed, momentarily forgetting about his disappointment over breakfast._

 _Michael, however, was quick to scowl. "Can't we go without Aiden?"_

" _Hey!" Aiden bit._

" _Michael, stop it!" Misty warned._

" _Sorry, but he just slows us all down," Michael groused. "Even Eli is better than Aiden!"_

 _Eli started to laugh, food tumbling out of his mouth and falling all over the table. That was gross even by Aiden's standards, who winced at the scene._

" _That's not fair, Michael," Ash sighed. "I'm not going to play without all of you."_

" _Fine," Michael grumbled, shoving the last bite of food into his mouth before pushing his plate away. "I'm gonna go get a head start!"_

 _He jumped up from his seat and darted out of the kitchen, leaving a total mess behind him._

" _Michael, wait!" Misty yelled. "Get back here and clean up!"_

" _Wait fow me!" Eli cried, shoving his own empty plate away and scurrying after Michael._

" _Boys!" Misty growled, stomping towards the doorway. Aiden glanced down at the table, frowning once he realized he still didn't have his cereal._

 _Ash chuckled as Misty turned away from the doorway, rubbing her temples. "Man, they sure are a handful!"_

 _Misty, on the other hand, just sighed and slumped her shoulders. "I really wonder what it would be like to have at least_ one _girl…"_

Aiden awoke with a jolt. Sunlight was streaming in through his window and stretching across his bedroom. Panic pulsating through his body, Aiden pushed the covers off and jumped out of bed, running out of his bedroom and straight down the stairs. He nearly skidded into the kitchen, having to stop himself by grabbing onto the nearby fridge. He glanced over at the table, and felt all of the anxiety leave his body as he saw Michelle and Elizabeth sitting there, both of them daintily eating their breakfast while Misty finished up at the counter.

"Thank Arceus!" Aiden gasped dramatically, rushing over to the table and gathering a stunned Michelle and Elizabeth into his arms.

"Aiden, what are you doing?!" Michelle whined, trying to wriggle out of her brother's grasp.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, simply giggled and attached herself to Aiden's side. "Hugs!"

Misty turned around and raised an eyebrow at the scene. "What's all this about?"

Aiden pulled away from his sisters and grinned at both of them before whipping around to give his mother the same look. "I'm just really glad I have sisters, that's all!"

Misty's confused expression turned into one of contentedness. Michelle, however, were still a bit thrown off by their brother's sudden revelation.

"Boys are weird," Michelle sighed, shaking her head.

* * *

 **I've always assumed that at some point Aiden would kind of pose that question of what it would be like if he had brothers instead of sisters. He is the only boy in the family after all (cousins included, like he said) so he can't help but to wonder!**

 **It was also really interesting to write male versions of Michelle and Elizabeth :P**

 **I hope you all enjoyed the first installment of Volume 2! I've got plenty more one shots saved up, so stay tuned!**


	2. Separation Anxiety

**I'm glad you guys enjoyed the first one shot in the new collection! I have to say, I'm very happy I decided to split it up. I'm still getting used to managing a new story (I keep going back into the old one!) but it feels so much neater and I'm much happier that way.**

 **Anyway, like I already assured you all, this one is exactly the same as I was always writing! So hopefully you'll all enjoy this one as well.**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 2 years old**

* * *

 **Separation Anxiety**

"I can't do this, Ash…"

The raven haired man frowned as he watched his wife bury her face in her hands. "Yes you can, Misty. It's only for a couple of nights."

Misty shook her head and slowly lowered her hands. "I've never been away from my babies for that long. What if they think I've abandoned them?"

"They won't," Ash assured her. "I've left for a few days at a time, and they never thought I left them! You always reminded me that."

Misty's entire day had come to a crashing halt at the end of her dreaded monthly gym leader meeting. Goodshow had decided that he wanted to have a retreat of sorts for the Kanto gym leaders, lasting for three days and two nights up at Indigo Plateau. Misty swore her heart had fallen right out of her chest the moment Goodshow had presented her and her fellow gym leaders with his grand plan. It sounded dramatic for her to be so worked up over the trip, but Misty always put her two children before her, and she had never been away from them for more than a single night.

"It'll be okay," Ash murmured, reaching over to rub his wife's back. "I understand why you're worried and upset. I used to feel the exact same way! But I'll make sure that we call you every night on the video phone so you can see each other. And I'll stay home for those three days so Aiden and Michelle aren't without both of us for that long. Mom can help me out too! You know she adores the twins. They'll be so well taken care of and loved! I'll make sure of it."

Misty sniffed and rubbed at her eye. "You're so sweet, Ash. And I know I can leave you with Aiden and Michelle. But…it's just… _I_ can't stand the thought of leaving them. They've spent almost every day of their lives with me! I mean, for Arceus' sake, I carried them for nearly 9 months, I went through 12 hours of natural, unmedicated labor to have them, I nursed them, I built them a playroom in the gym so I could bring them to work with me…"

"You've done everything right with them," Ash promised once Misty had trailed off. "Aiden and Michelle are still very young, but they know how much you love them and care for them. It would take a whole lot more than three days for them to forget you. You've really sacrificed a lot for them over the past 2 years."

"But it's worth it," Misty muttered. "I would do _anything_ for them."

"I know you would," Ash whispered, kissing her cheek. "And that's why you have to do this. This is your job, Misty. You love your job, you're passionate about it. A lot of people aren't that lucky. And you get to do something you love while supporting our family."

Misty whimpered and turned her head to look at Ash. "I'm being a baby."

Ash chuckled and gently grabbed her face. "No, you're not being a baby. You're upset, and it's understandable. I just want you to know that I'm here for you, no matter what."

Misty smiled tearfully and wrapped her arms around Ash, resting her head on his shoulder. "I don't know what I did to deserve you."

Ash lifted her head up by her chin and pressed his nose to hers. "Funny, I could say the same thing about you."

The two soon found their lips locked together, kissing passionately and quickly forgetting where they were or what they had even been talking about just moments before. Misty leaned back, her hair fanning out on the bedspread, Ash falling over her and settling himself between her legs.

" _Mama!_ "

Misty tilted her head back, her eyes falling on the baby monitor that sat on her nightstand. Ash took advantage of the opportunity and began to kiss the side of Misty's neck, causing her to moan and draw her knees up.

"Come on," Misty pleaded breathlessly, gently tapping her husband's shoulder. "I have to go see what Michelle needs."

"Michelle?" Ash murmured, picking his head up. "That was Aiden."

Misty smirked and shook her head. She slid off the bed, a bewildered Ash quickly following after her. She left their bedroom and walked over to the door of Aiden and Michelle's. She slowly pushed it open, moving carefully just in case the other twin was sleeping. When she walked in, Ash peered through the doorway, and was surprised to see Aiden fast asleep on his side of the room. Michelle, on the other hand, was sitting up and clutching a stuffed Pikachu to her chest.

"What's the matter, sweetie?" Misty whispered.

"Ni- li-," Michelle whimpered, pointing at the night light near the foot of her bed. Misty took a look and realized that the mermaid light had gone dark.

"Oh, the batteries in your night light died," Misty sighed.

"Dawk," Michelle whined, covering her eyes with the stuffed Pikachu.

"It's okay, baby," Misty assured her daughter. "Mommy will fix it!"

Misty knelt down beside the night light and pulled it out of the wall, smiling over her shoulder at Michelle. "I'll be right back!"

She walked back towards the door, grinning cheekily once she saw Ash standing there.

"Told you it was Michelle," Misty teased, winking at her flustered husband.

"H-how could you tell?" Ash breathed, following his wife down the hallway. "They both have the same squeaky little voice!"

"I told you, I've spent almost single every day of their lives with them," Misty replied. "I can pick out the differences between their voices."

"That's incredible," Ash remarked.

"One of my many talents," Misty sighed, scurrying down the stairs. She walked into the kitchen and placed the night light on the counter, opening up one of the drawers and digging for some batteries.

Ash, on the other hand, approached the counter and picked up the night light to examine it. It looked like a white lantern, was filled with water and light blue glitter, and had the white silhouette image of a mermaid holding a starfish and surrounded by bubbles and seaweed.

"This thing has always reminded me of you," Ash commented, looking up just in time to see Misty walking towards him with two batteries in hand.

"Because of the mermaid?" Misty asked knowingly.

"Yep," Ash chuckled, handing the night light over to her.

"Michelle loves her mermaids," Misty giggled, opening up the night light's compartment and removing the dead batteries. "This thing is the big key to getting her to go to sleep at night. Has she ever made you watch it with her?"

Ash twisted his mouth. "I don't think so…"

"It's so cute," Misty breathed. "She loves to watch the glitter swirl around the mermaid. She'll point at it and call them 'waves.' It's one of my favorite things about her…"

Ash's eyes widened as Misty started to sniffle again.

"Mist, are you okay?" He questioned.

Misty quickly nodded her head, but reached up at the same time to wipe at her eye.

"No you're not," Ash sighed.

"I just realized I won't be able to do this with her when I'm away," Misty hiccupped. "I won't be here to watch the night light with her."

"It's only two nights," Ash reminded her. "And if she wants to watch the night light, I'll watch it with her!"

Misty cleared her throat and picked her head up, nodding it.

"Are the batteries all good?" Ash asked, pointing at the night light.

"Mmhm," Misty hummed. "I'd better go plug it back in so Michelle can go to sleep."

She walked out of the kitchen, Ash once again trailing her. When they got back to the twins' bedroom, Michelle was still sitting up in bed, holding her toy Pikachu close.

"Here we go," Misty breathed, kneeling down beside the outlet and sticking the night light in. The lantern lit up, the light blue glitter swirling around inside. Michelle placed her toy down and crawled to the end of her bed, peering down at the night light.

"Waves!" Michelle squealed softly, pointing at the light.

Ash smirked as he watched from the doorway, leaning against the doorframe as he watched his young daughter marvel over her beloved night light.

"Yeah, waves," Misty murmured softly. "Now that it's working again, are you ready to go to sleep?"

Michelle nodded her head, holding her arms out towards her mother. Misty giggled and lifted the child up beneath her arms, gently placing her back at the head of her bed. Once she was settled, Misty knelt down and kissed her daughter's forehead, earning a soft coo from the toddler.

"Good night, Michelle," Misty whispered against the girl's skin.

"Ni-, Mama," Michelle babbled.

With a smile, Misty gently pushed Michelle down before pulling the comforter over her. She stroked her daughter's hair for a few moments before getting to her feet and walking out of the room, Ash gently wrapping his arm around her waist so she couldn't go anywhere. With his free arm, he halfway closed the door to the twins' room, and then pulled Misty against his side.

"You are the best mom in the whole wide world," Ash remarked, resting his chin atop Misty's head.

"That's a broad title," Misty teased.

"But I know that it's true," Ash replied, spinning Misty around to smile at her. "You always know exactly what Aiden and Michelle need."

Misty just smiled softly in response, but said nothing else.

"I'm their father, and I love them just as much as you do," Ash continued. "And I swear to you, Misty, for those two nights when you're not here, I will do my very best to take care of them the same way you do."

Misty laughed just once and reached up to cup Ash's cheek. "That's very sweet, Ash, but you don't have to take care of them the same way I do. You said it yourself: you're their father. You're one of the only other people in the world I would trust with our children for that long. Nothing would make me happier than knowing you're taking care of them the best way _you_ know how."

Ash smiled and tilted his head to the side. "Have I ever asked what I did to deserve you?"

Misty returned his grin and nodded her head, standing on her toes to give Ash a quick kiss. "Yes, you have. And I've asked the same about you."

* * *

 **I was trying to find the perfect nightlight for Michelle, and I found one online that was so cute! I'll have to start up a new writing blog soon so I can show you all the picture, because I'm really in love with it.**


	3. Darling Little Doctor

**Last weekend, it went from 80 degrees one day to 45 the next. So guess who got a nasty cold? This crazy temperature change has actually happened quite a few times to us, but I guess this time was my unlucky strike. Fortunately, after a few days of taking sinus pills, chugging tea, and going through an ungodly amount of tissues, I seem to be on the road to recovery!**

 **I did realize, however, after almost a week of suffering, that now would be a great time to put up this story that I've had saved for quite some time!**

 **Elizabeth: 2 and a half years old**

* * *

 **Darling Little Doctor**

"Oh no! Anothew ouchie."

Misty furrowed her brow as she heard the sound of ripping. Glancing up from her magazine, she was alarmed to see a flimsy piece of white paper flittering through the air like a piece of confetti, landing listlessly on the floor in a pile with similar pieces.

"What did she do?" Misty groaned, putting her magazine down and sliding off the bed.

She'd been in her room reading one of her monthly magazines when Elizabeth had come toddling in. With the twins out doing their own things, Misty had assumed that the little girl was simply lonely, and looking for someone to play with. Misty would have more than gladly put her magazine down to play with her daughter, but Elizabeth hadn't asked. Instead, she'd just gone into the bathroom. Misty had checked on her a few times after that, but all Elizabeth had been doing was sitting in the middle of the floor, playing with her stuffed Cubchoo.

Now, however, it seemed that she was up to no good.

Poking her head into the bathroom, Misty let out a sharp gasp, alarming Elizabeth. "Lizzie, what in the world did you do?!"

"Cubby had a ouchie!" Elizabeth replied, holding up her stuffed toy. It was covered in bandages, _real bandages_ , with their discarded wrappers and wax backs piled up behind the little girl.

"Sweetie, you shouldn't put band aids on a stuffed toy!" Misty sighed, crouching down and tugging at the band aid that was splayed across Cubchoo's forehead. "They're going to get stuck!"

"But Cubby had a ouchie," Elizabeth repeated.

"Apparently he had _lots_ of ouchies," Misty sighed, looking the stuffed Pokémon over. "How many band aids did you use?"

"I dunno," Elizabeth murmured.

Misty caught sight of the band aid box on Elizabeth's other side. She reached over and picked it up, peering into the small box and finding just three wrapped band aids left.

"A lot of them," Misty groaned, smacking her forehead. "Elizabeth, how many times has Mommy had to tell you not to waste these kinds of things? We need them in case somebody actually gets hurt!"

"I was payin- pwetend, Mommy," Elizabeth whined.

"I know you were," Misty murmured. "You should have asked me to play! I would have played with you."

"Pway now?" Elizabeth asked, her eyes lighting up.

"Yes, we'll play now," Misty giggled. "What do you want to play?"

"Doctow!"

"Still, huh?"

"Ya."

"Okay, let's go play in the living room," Misty decided. "I think that will be a lot easier than trying to play in the bathroom!"

Elizabeth nodded and jumped to her feet, scurrying out of the bathroom. Misty made sure to keep close behind, not wanting Elizabeth to make any more of a mess than she already had. Fortunately, Elizabeth made it down to the living room without any other incidents, and quickly discarded her stuffed Cubchoo on the floor.

"Elizabeth, don't throw your toys around!" Misty gently scolded.

"Sit, Mommy!" Elizabeth urged, ignoring the warning.

Sighing, Misty shuffled over to the couch and sat down, watching as Elizabeth climbed up next to her, a toy stethoscope around her neck.

"-eck up time!" Elizabeth announced, pressing the end of the stethoscope against Misty's chest.

"What are you listening for?" Misty asked sweetly.

"Heawt!"

"Oh, okay."

Misty sat patiently, watching as Elizabeth moved the toy stethoscope around. She climbed up onto Misty's lap, sitting on her knees so that she was face to face with her mother, still "listening" to her heartbeat. Misty raised an eyebrow until Elizabeth's head snapped up and their eyes were locked, greatly alarming Misty.

" _Gah!_ " Misty shrieked.

"Mommy, you'ew sick!" Elizabeth cried.

"What?" Misty deadpanned.

"You'ew vewy sick," Elizabeth repeated, lowering the stethoscope. "I cuwe you!"

"What am I sick with?" Misty asked as Elizabeth clambered off her lap. "It sounds so serious!"

"I dunno!" Elizabeth whined, shoving at her mother's midsection. "Down!"

"Huh?"

"Down! Now!"

"Oh, you want me to lie down," Misty breathed, quickly obliging. "Next time, ask nicer, Lizzie."

"Nuh uh," Elizabeth refuted. "You'we vewy sick. You hafta –isten!"

"Okay, okay," Misty hushed, lying back on the couch. She turned her head and watched Elizabeth rummage through a box full of toys, intently looking for something. Sighing peacefully, Misty turned her gaze up onto the ceiling, staring at the white paint. She supposed this wasn't _so_ bad. Sure, she had no idea what Elizabeth had up her sleeve, but at least she got to lounge around a bit. Playing a game where she got to lie on the couch couldn't be _so_ bad, after all.

"-ot!"

"OW!" Misty's peace was quickly disrupted as she jumped to a sitting position, grasping her upper arm with the opposite hand. "Elizabeth!"

The little girl slowly tilted her head to the side. "Wha-?"

"What did you just do?" Misty asked gently, trying to keep her voice level.

"-ot!" Elizabeth reiterated, holding up a plastic replica of a needle.

"Oh, you gave me a shot," Misty replied dully. "You know, Lizzie, if a _real_ doctor gave someone a _real_ shot that hard, they'd probably get fired."

"But I pway pwetend!" Elizabeth crowed. "Isn't weal, Mommy."

"Well that jab definitely was," Misty grumbled, rubbing the afflicted spot.

"I gotsta check, Mommy," Elizabeth announced, trying to climb back onto the couch.

Misty sighed and lifted the child up, ending her struggle. "Check what, sprinkle?"

The toddler wordlessly pointed up towards her mother's head. Misty knew this was playtime, but she also saw it as an opportunity to help her daughter learn.

"What are you pointing at, Lizzie?" Misty asked. "Could you tell me?"

"-ead," Elizabeth answered, patting her own forehead.

"Oh, okay," Misty breathed, bending over to get closer to the toddler. "You can check my head, then."

Elizabeth pressed a small hand against Misty's forehead, and after a short moment of contemplation, let out a frustrated whine.

"What is it?" Misty asked quite seriously.

"You'we still sick," Elizabeth murmured sadly.

"Oh no," Misty breathed, frowning afterwards.

"Now you'we _mowe_ sick."

" _More_ sick?" Misty repeated.

Elizabeth frowned and nodded sadly.

"This is bad," Misty sighed, placing a hand against her cheek. "What else can you do for me, Doctor Lizzie?"

Elizabeth pursed her lips in thought. As she contemplated, Ash walked through the front door, smiling as he saw the two on the couch.

"Aw, there are my pretty girls!" Ash chuckled, walking over to them. He held his arms out to pick up Elizabeth, but the toddler had other plans.

"No, Daddy!" Elizabeth cried, shaking her head.

"Huh?" Ash murmured. "How come you don't want me to pick you up, pumpkin?"

"Mommy's vewy sick," Elizabeth informed her father. Ash shot Misty an alarmed look, causing her to let out a long sigh before shaking her head. That was all Ash needed to understand that Elizabeth was just playing pretend.

"Oh," Ash breathed, tapping his chin. "Well, uh…that's no good. We have to help her, right?"

Elizabeth nodded her head rapidly.

"What do we have to do?" Ash asked.

The young girl glanced between her father and mother, looking at them both for a few moments before declaring, "kiss!"

"What?" Ash murmured.

"Daddy, kiss Mommy," Elizabeth instructed, pointing at her mother.

"Why?" Ash questioned.

"What's the matter, Ashy?" Misty teased. "Don't wanna kiss me?"

The Pokémon Master's cheeks flashed red, causing Misty to giggle.

"You save Mommy," Elizabeth explained. "Wif a kiss!"

Misty stopped her giggling and once again looked at Ash, raising an eyebrow. This was an unusual request from the girl. She normally didn't like her parents showing affection for one another; she didn't like being left out. It was one of her more difficult phases, and now Misty couldn't quite understand why her daughter suddenly _wanted_ them to show affection.

"That's the only way Daddy can save me?" Misty asked her daughter.

Elizabeth wordlessly nodded her head, pressing her lips into a tight line. The gym leader looked up at her still flustered husband, fluttering her eyelashes. "What do you say, Ash? You willing to save me?"

Ash's blush dissipated as he smiled at his wife, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss against her lips. He would've _loved_ to kiss her more passionately, but Ash didn't want to push Elizabeth too far. After a few seconds, Ash pulled away, gently touching his wife's jaw as his smile returned.

"Yay!" Elizabeth cheered, breaking her parents out of their trance. "Daddy saveded Mommy!"

"Heh, happy to do it!" Ash replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

Elizabeth giggled and clapped her hands together. "I'ma good doctow!"

Ash chuckled and finally picked his young daughter up, giving her her own kiss on the cheek. "Yep, the very best!"

* * *

 **Elizabeth is one of those kids who, if you asked her what she wants to be when she grows up, would tell you a "doctor ballerina mommy" without a doubt. You could throw in top coordinator or gym leader for her as well, teehee.**


	4. Much Ado About Mother's Day

**Happy Mother's Day everyone! As always, in order to celebrate, I whipped up a special one shot just for today. I like this one a lot because while Misty is the at the center of Ash's dilemma here, it's Delia who plays the leading role in helping him out.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Elizabeth: 4 and a half years old**

* * *

 **Much Ado about Mother's Day**

"Grammy!"

Elizabeth ran right up the walkway of her grandmother's house, where Delia had already opened the front door and was kneeling down with open arms. The little girl jumped into her waiting embrace, resting her head on the older woman's shoulder.

"There's my sweet Lizzie," Delia crooned, standing up to her full height and smiling down at the content child. "I'm so happy to see you!"

Elizabeth picked her head up and grinned at her grandmother. "Me too!"

"Oh man…she's so fast…"

Delia looked up, while Elizabeth peered over her shoulder. Ash was now standing at the gate, bent over as he panted to try and catch his breath. Pikachu sat on his shoulder, watching the man with a worried expression.

"Ash dear, I have a hard time believing you can't keep up with Elizabeth," Delia commented with a little giggle.

"I'm not getting any younger," Ash gasped, straightening himself out.

"No, but you're in excellent shape," Delia replied.

"My shape doesn't really matter when Elizabeth has enough energy to last her for days," Ash groaned.

Elizabeth beamed up at her grandmother. "I'm fun, Grammy!"

Delia laughed and rubbed her nose against Elizabeth's. "Yes you are, beautiful girl!" Pulling away, the woman continued, "You know what? I have a very special surprise for you inside! Would you like to go see what it is?"

"Yeah!" Elizabeth squealed.

With a smile, Delia waved towards her son and beckoned, "well then, everybody inside!"

Ash followed his mother into his childhood home, walking into the kitchen were Mimey was busy messing with something on the counter. Leaning forward, Ash realized that the barrier Pokémon was pouring a pink beverage from a pitcher into glasses. Delia placed Elizabeth in a chair at the kitchen table and reached over for one of the glasses, thanking Mimey as she did so. Delia then placed the glass in front of Elizabeth, whose eyes lit up as soon as she saw it.

"Strawberry lemonade?!" Elizabeth squealed.

Delia giggled and nodded her head. "Yes! I know how much you love it, Lizzie!"

"Yay!" Elizabeth cheered, grabbing the glass and taking a big gulp of the lemonade inside.

"Elizabeth, what do you say?" Ash asked patiently.

Elizabeth put the glass back down and grinned at her grandmother. "Thank you!"

"Of course, anything for my little sweetheart!" Delia replied cheerfully. "There's plenty more where that came from, so drink as much as you'd like."

Not having to be told twice, Elizabeth raised the glass to her lips again and continued to drink. With a smile, Delia turned to her son and asked, "Would you and Pikachu like a glass too?"

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu squeaked.

"Yeah, that'd be great!" Ash replied. "Thanks, Mom."

She grabbed two more glasses, placing one on the table so Pikachu could hop off Ash's shoulder and get to it on his own, and handing the other one over to Ash.

"So, dear, how are things?" Delia questioned, watching over her shoulder as Mimey took a seat next to Elizabeth with his own glass of lemonade.

"They're okay," Ash sighed. "Could be better, though."

Delia frowned and gave another glance towards the table. Elizabeth was busy chattering away with Mimey and Pikachu while enjoying her lemonade, and Delia felt comfortable leaving the little girl that way.

"Why don't you and I be alone for a little while?" Delia asked.

Ash, knowing exactly what his mother was up to, quickly agreed with a nod of his head. "Lizzie, Grammy and I are going to sit in the living room. Don't cause any trouble for Pikachu or Mimey, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy," Elizabeth chirped.

The two adults made their way to the next room, taking a seat on the couch. Ash put his glass of lemonade down on the coffee table in front of them and sighed, resting his head in his hands.

"It's Misty, isn't it?" Delia murmured, picking up a coaster and sliding it beneath her son's glass.

"Yeah," Ash grumbled. "She's still struggling with not having Aiden and Michelle at home. I feel bad. It's hard for all of us, but Misty's definitely been hit the worst. I've started to come up with different ways to distract her and try to keep her positive, but it's not always easy."

"Understandably," Delia replied. "It's difficult when the children you've been raising for 10 years aren't living with you anymore. I know I had a hard time when you first left."

"And now I get why," Ash grunted, leaning back against the couch. "But for Misty, I think it's been worse lately because Mother's Day is coming up. It'll be her first one without the twins at home."

"Ah, I see," Delia breathed. "That does make a lot of sense."

"I want to do something special for her," Ash continued. "I mean, I always do. But especially now. I have to do something that will really give Misty a reason to feel happy."

"Perhaps you should take her somewhere for the weekend," Delia suggested. "Someplace nice and relaxing where can take her mind off of everything! I would be happy to watch Elizabeth for the two of you."

"It's not a bad idea, but I'm afraid if I try and keep her away from Elizabeth on Mother's Day, she'll claw my eyes out," Ash sighed, only half joking.

"Oh, good point," Delia remarked, not at all phased by her son's assumption.

"I always buy her jewelry and stuff, but I don't think that's good enough this year," Ash continued. "A necklace or a pair of earrings aren't going to bring Aiden and Michelle home, after all."

"No, but I'm sure she'd appreciate it regardless," Delia responded. "Misty knows how much you love and care for her. Anything you do will mean a lot to her."

"I know, but I _really_ want to do something different," Ash groaned.

Delia hummed and tilted her head in thought. "Well…if you want to do something memorable, something that will make Misty happy, and you don't want to separate her from Elizabeth…why don't the three of you just go somewhere together?"

Ash's eyes widened. "That's…not a bad idea, Mom."

"I thought it was pretty good," Delia hummed, taking a sip of her lemonade.

"But where could we go?" Ash wondered aloud, furrowing his brow. "We can't go away for too long. Misty and I can't miss that much work. It has to be somewhere kind of close. But I don't want it to be boring…"

"Porta Vista."

Ash turned his head to look at his mother. "What?"

"Porta Vista," Delia repeated. "Misty's parents have a house there. Why don't you just ask them if you can use it for the weekend? You wouldn't have to spend any money to stay there, but you could take her out to a very nice dinner, maybe some shopping. They have some lovely little boutiques there! Not to mention the beach. I'm sure both Misty _and_ Elizabeth would love to spend some time there!"

"That _does_ sound nice…" Ash murmured, rocking his head from side to side.

"You could always get her a gift and give it to her there," Delia continued. "If you plan on spoiling her like usual, of course."

Ash let out a low chuckle. "Yeah, the usual."

Delia smiled and stood up from the couch. "It's ultimately your decision, but I think if you're looking to do something special, that's a very good option."

"No, I agree!" Ash nearly squeaked, jumping to his own feet. "I wouldn't have thought of it myself. Thanks, Mom. I can always count on you!"

Delia's smile widened as she nodded her head. "Don't mention it, dear! You know I'll always be there for you."

Ash blushed slightly as he followed his mother back to the kitchen. Elizabeth was still sitting at the table with Mimey and Pikachu, although by now all three of their glasses were empty.

"I see the lemonade was a big hit!" Delia laughed, gaining the attention of her young granddaughter and the two Pokémon. "Would you all like some more?"

"Yes please!" Elizabeth chirped.

"Mime!"

"Chu!"

Delia giggled and collected the glasses, bringing them back over to the counter for their refills. While she was busy with that, Ash pulled a chair out next to her daughter and sat down, earning a curious glance from the little girl.

"Lizzie, I've got an idea for what we can do for Mommy for Mother's Day," Ash began, causing her eyes to light up.

"Really?" Elizabeth gasped. "What is it, Daddy?"

"What do you think if the three of us went to Porta Vista for the weekend and stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's house?" Ash asked. "We could take Mommy shopping, and out to eat, and go to the-"

"The beach?!" Elizabeth squealed, cutting her father off as she nearly jumped out of her seat.

"Yeah, the beach," Ash chuckled, shaking off his surprise. "Wow, you took the words right out of my mouth, pumpkin!"

"I always know what you're going to say, Daddy," Elizabeth replied. "We've got the same brain, right? That's what Mommy says!"

Ash chortled deeply. "Yeah, that's what Mommy says. So, do you think she'd like that?"

Elizabeth emphatically nodded her head.

"Are you just saying that because _you'd_ like it?" Ash asked with a smirk.

"Nuh uh!" Elizabeth cried. "I mean it! Daddy, you and I have the same brain, but Mommy and I like the same things. So that means if I like it, she'll like it too!"

"Okay, okay, I believe you," Ash snickered.

"Mommy would like it a lot," Elizabeth reiterated, nodding her head more slowly. "It's a good idea!"

"I'm glad you think so," Ash commented. "Grammy came up with it!"

Elizabeth whipped her head around, her emerald eyes following her grandmother as she carried the refilled glasses back to the table. "You did, Grammy?"

"I suppose I did," Delia replied rather sheepishly. She never liked to brag and became bashful whenever she ended up receiving an abundance of praise. "But I just wanted to help Daddy come up with the best present for your mommy! He wanted to do something very special. Isn't that so nice of him?"

"Yeah," Elizabeth murmured. "It is nice! It's cause Daddy really loves Mommy."

Ash broke out into a huge grin. "Yes, I really love Mommy."

"Me too," Elizabeth squeaked before grabbing her glass and chugging the lemonade out of it. Ash and Delia exchanged glances before bursting out laughing, causing Elizabeth to look up with a raised eyebrow. "What? What's so funny?"

 **XXX**

As soon as Ash presented his plan to Misty, her eyes widened.

"Really?" She asked almost breathlessly. "A trip to Porta Vista?"

"I thought it'd be nice, and fun," Ash replied, gently shrugging his shoulders. "Well, actually, it was Mom's idea. I think it's great! But if you'd rather stay here-"

"Oh no, I'd _love_ to go out there!" Misty interrupted him. "Your mother always has the best suggestions! I would never turn down a chance to go to Porta Vista. Besides, it might be good to get away from here for a little while."

Ash just nodded his head, knowing exactly what Misty meant. "Then that's what we'll do! I have other presents for you too, but you're not going to get those until Mother's Day."

Misty smirked. "More? Ash, you _really_ spoil me."

"Well, you deserve it," Ash countered with his own big smile. "And don't say you don't! Because you won't win that argument."

"Normally I'd disagree with you, because I'm the _master_ at winning arguments," Misty snickered. "But I know better than to challenge you about…well…me."

Ash grinned and nodded his head. "Glad you understand. Now, let's get packing! The sooner we get to Porta Vista-"

"The better," Misty breathed, her smile softening. "Thank you, Ash. I love you."

Ash chuckled and wrapped his arms around his wife. "I love you too."

* * *

 **Of course I couldn't resist throwing in Elizabeth being a little cutie :P She just wants to be included in everything!**

 **I hope you all have a wonderful day today!**


	5. The Culture of Alola

**Many of you have been asking for it, and now it's finally here: the first appearance of the Alolan classmates! It took me a little while to finish, because I wanted to get a good feel for their characters (I've been watching both the Japanese and the English dub), and I figured that now was the perfect time to debut it, especially with the weeklong premiere of SM in the US coming to an end.**

 **I do have to say that right now, I am absolutely loving SM and think it's so much fun! Because it is still early in the series, I took the same approach as my Spiceshipping one shot (shameless plug) and combined some game elements with the anime.**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 8 and a half**

 **Elizabeth: 2 and a half**

* * *

 **The Culture of Alola**

"Aiden, don't press your face up against the window like that!"

Ash chuckled at his wife. "It's no big deal, Mist. I did the same thing the first time I came to Alola!"

The family had landed at the Melemele Airport not too long ago, and was now riding together in a rickshaw being pulled by a happy, energetic Tauros.

"But this isn't the first time he's come to Alola," Misty reasoned with her husband.

"Yeah, but he doesn't remember the first time," Ash replied. "He's just excited is all. Go easy on him!"

"Daddy, I saw people riding Lapras and Sharpedo in the water before," Michelle piped up, catching Ash's attention. "I didn't know Sharpedo were that nice!"

"The ones in Alola are," Ash chuckled. "What you saw before were Ride Pokémon! Here, a lot of Pokémon are trained specifically for transporting people around the islands. Even that Tauros is considered a Ride Pokémon!"

"Whoa," Michelle marveled, her eyes sparkling as she glanced over at the Tauros pulling them along. "That's so cool!"

After a while, the rickshaw pulled up to a round wooden shack with a grass roof. Aiden and Michelle marveled at the sight, while Elizabeth crawled off of her mother's lap and impatiently tried to clamber up her siblings' backs to get a better view.

"Perfect! We're here!" Ash announced, hopping out of the rickshaw.

"Here?" Michelle repeated. "What's this?"

"You guys really don't remember, huh?" Misty asked with a light giggle.

"Remember?" Michelle questioned, sounding just as confused as she had before.

"You've been here before!" Misty chirped.

"We have?" Aiden asked.

"Yes, we took you and Michelle to Alola when you were very little," Misty replied.

Aiden frowned and shook his head. "I don't remember that."

"Me eifer," Elizabeth squeaked.

"Well, that's because _you've_ never been here before, sprinkle," Misty laughed, taking the preschooler back into her arms. "We took your big brother and sister before you were born."

"Oh," Elizabeth murmured, causing her mother's smile to widen.

"But it's okay, because Aiden and Michelle don't remember it!" Misty continued. "So this'll almost be like everybody's first time."

"Oh my _gosh!_ "

Elizabeth picked her head up, as did Aiden and Michelle. Standing just outside the rickshaw, next to their father, was a woman with long, dark green hair split on both sides of her head and adorned by a floral head wrap. Her skin was a warm shade of mocha, and her eyes were the same dark green as her hair.

"Look how cute they are! And how big they've gotten!" The woman fussed. "Come on out! I want to really see you guys!"

Aiden and Michelle exchanged curious looks, but still honored the woman's request and climbed out. As soon as their feet hit the ground, the woman gasped again and switched her gaze between the two.

"Yep, definitely taller!" She giggled. "Ash, you must be so excited by how much they've taken after their mother!"

Ash's brown eyes narrowed. "Are you calling me short?"

"Well, you're not _anymore_ if that makes you feel any better," the green-haired woman laughed nervously.

Ash sighed and shook his head as a smirk appeared on his face. "Thanks, Mallow."

Michelle's emerald eyes widened in realization. "Mallow!"

The older woman turned her attention back onto Michelle and winked. "That's my name!"

"I remember now!" Michelle exclaimed. "You let me help you cook once!"

"I sure did!" Mallow giggled. "And I remember that you were a great helper! I'd love to have you in the kitchen again!"

"Sure!" Michelle replied excitedly. "Grammy has taught me a lot since then! I'm an even better cook now!"

"Oh, even better, huh?" Mallow questioned. "Maybe I should be worried about my job!"

"What's your job?" Aiden asked.

Mallow smiled and pointed back at the building behind them. "My family owns this restaurant and I'm the head chef!"

"She also used to be a trial captain!" Ash added, bringing a considerable blush to Mallow's face.

"A trial captain?" Aiden repeated. "What's that?"

Mallow gasped dramatically, causing everyone to jump. "What?! You _seriously_ mean to tell me your dad _never_ told you what a _trial captain_ was?!"

Aiden shook his head, leading Mallow to smack Ash on the shoulder. "Hey!"

"You're slacking!" Mallow cried. "I thought that'd be one of the _first_ things you'd teach your kids about!"

"It never came up!" Ash rushed to defend himself.

"What's a trial captain?" Aiden asked again.

"It's kind of like the gym leaders you have back in Kanto," Mallow explained. "Except here in the Alola region, we don't really do it the same way. Trials consist of different tasks that the trial captains themselves choose. Once you complete the tasks, you battle the totem Pokémon, which is bigger and stronger than most wild Pokémon you would come across. They can even call on other wild Pokémon for help! If you manage to defeat the totem Pokémon and their allies, you pass the trial and get a Z Crystal!"

Aiden's brown eyes were now set wide and sparkling. "Whoa, that sounds so cool! I wanna do that!"

"You're too young just yet, buddy," Ash snickered. "You've got to be at least 11 to take on the island trials."

"What?!" Aiden cried. "That's even older than battling a gym!"

"Told you trials are different," Mallow giggled. "Here, you can't even be a trial captain once you're older than 20. They literally force you into retirement, it's crazy!"

"Whoa, really?" Aiden marveled. "If gym leaders had rules like that, Mom wouldn't have been one for _years!_ "

"Thank you, Aiden."

The young boy stiffened up but quickly spun around, finding himself face-to-face with his displeased mother. "Heh…hey, Mom!"

"Oh my gosh, look at the baby!"

Mallow rushed over to Misty, who was holding a bewildered Elizabeth in her arms.

"Oh, she is not a baby anymore!" Mallow gasped, beaming at the preschooler. "She's gotten so big, Misty!"

"Yeah, she has," Misty agreed with a giggle. "Next month is her third birthday!"

"It's already been three years?!" Mallow cried. "Man, I'm really starting to feel old…"

"Hey, watch this!" Ash cried, running up between Mallow and Misty. "Lizzie, show Mallow what I taught you. How did I teach you to say hello to everyone in Alola?"

Elizabeth seemed to think about it for a moment before holding her hands on top of one another and moving them off to the sides in a circular motion. "Alola!"

Mallow's face lit up as she squealed at Elizabeth's greeting. "How CUTE is that?!" With another giggle, Mallow moved her hands in the same fashion and replied, "Alola!"

Elizabeth smiled at Mallow's response, which only melted the chef's heart even more.

"Aw, come here, you!" Mallow cooed, lifting the preschooler from Misty's arms. "You are just the most adorable little thing I've ever seen!"

"Mallow, please tell me you're not trying to steal other people's kids."

She scoffed at the idea and spun around, facing the restaurant. "Kiawe! Of course I'm not stealing Ash and Misty's precious little girl! What kind of a person do you think I am?"

Kiawe smirked and walked down the steps to join everyone else. "Not a bad one, just one who tends to get a little overexcited."

"Hey, Kiawe!" Ash greeted. "Long time no see!"

"You too, Ash," Kiawe greeted smoothly before turning his attention onto the man's wife. "Nice to see you too, Misty."

"And you as well!" Misty giggled.

Aiden's eyes widened at the sight of Kiawe. He was taller and more muscular than Ash, with dark skin, hair, and eyes, and nothing on his body except for a pair of shorts, sandals, and an intricate necklace.

"Do you guys remember Kiawe?" Misty asked the children, unaware that her son was in a trance.

"No," Elizabeth quickly squeaked, earning a chuckle from Kiawe and an eye roll from Misty.

"She doesn't mess around," Kiawe noted. "I like that."

"Kiawe used to be a trial captain, just like Mallow," Ash explained. "Now he's a member of Alola's Elite Four!"

"And more importantly than that, he's married to _me!_ " Mallow giggled, throwing in a wink for good measure.

Kiawe sighed, although his smirk was still present. "Right, a very important fact."

Mallow took another look at Elizabeth, and suddenly her eyes lit up, confusing both Ash and Misty. "Wait a second…haven't you told me that Elizabeth really likes dancing?"

"Yeah," Ash replied. "She just started taking ballet last year and really seems to like it. For an almost 3 year old, she's pretty passionate!"

Mallow grinned and smacked her husband on the chest. "Perfect opportunity! Kiawe, you should give Elizabeth an Alolan dance lesson!"

Kiawe raised an eyebrow at the suggestion. "I dance with fire, Mallow."

"No, not with the fire!" Mallow groaned. "Start her off with something a little less death defying…like a little bit of hula!"

"Actually, I was thinking we would meet up with Lana down at the beach," Ash piped up, catching both Mallow and Kiawe's attention. "She wanted to take us fishing for a bit. You guys are more than welcome to come, though!"

"That sounds like so much fun!" Mallow squealed. "But…I've got to stay back here. The lunch rush is going to start soon, and I have to make sure the restaurant is ready to go. But Kiawe could go with you guys!"

The fire type specialist raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"Yeah, you don't have any fancy Elite Four stuff to do today, right?" Mallow questioned.

"No, but I had things to do out in the field," Kiawe grumbled.

"Ah, you can save that boring stuff for later!" Mallow refuted. "Don't you think it would be fun to take a break and see Lana for a bit?"

Kiawe sighed. "Alright, fine."

"Yay!" Mallow cheered, clapping her hands. "Once everything quiets down over here, I'll come meet up with you guys! Have fun!"

 **XXX**

Kiawe led the Ketchum family to the beach, which wasn't a long walk from his and Mallow's home. When they arrived, they headed for the dock, where a blue haired woman was standing and stroking the head of a Lapras.

"Lana!" Ash called, catching the woman's attention. She smiled and gave a little wave, meeting them halfway on the dock.

"Hi guys!" Lana greeted. "It's so good to see you!"

Aiden blinked and titled his head to the side. "Were you a trial captain too?"

Misty was about to scold her son, but was cut off by Lana's high pitched giggle. "Yeah, I was! I used water types, just like your mom!"

Aiden's eyes widened at this fact, along with his smile. "Wow, that's so cool! Did you know that, Mom?"

"I did," Misty confirmed with a giggle. "Lana has some really amazing Pokémon!"

"I wanna see 'em!" Aiden cried.

Michelle, however, was more interested in the Lapras just a few feet away. She noticed that it had something on its back that looked quite a bit like a seat. With a small gasp, she flitted over to her father and grabbed onto his hand.

"Daddy, is that a ride Pokémon?" Michelle asked, pointing towards Lapras.

Ash looked up at Lapras and smiled. "Yep! That's Lana's Lapras. She uses it to go out fishing!"

"Wow, that's so cool!" Michelle marveled.

"Lappy!" Elizabeth shrieked from Misty's arms, pointing at the large blue Pokémon.

"Yes, I know, you like Lapras!" Misty giggled.

"So you guys like going fishing too?" Lana asked the children.

"Yeah!" Aiden confirmed. "Mom takes us fishing all the time!"

"Don't let his enthusiasm fool you," Misty playfully warned. "Aiden has a pretty hard time sitting still and being patient when it comes to fishing. He really only likes it once he's reeled something in."

"Hey, that's not true!" Aiden argued.

"I hate to break it to you, champ, but it's totally true," Ash sighed. "You get that from me, unfortunately. But fishing _is_ pretty boring when all you're doing is sitting there and nothing's biting!"

Both Misty and Lana turned to shoot Ash dark looks, sending the man's nerves into a tense knot. Kiawe, on the other hand, let out a tired sigh.

"Not a smart move," Kiawe commented plainly.

"Uh…heh," Ash chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I…I didn't mean it like _that!_ Fishing is awesome! It's…so great!"

Misty sighed and looked over at Lana. "I'm really excited to go fishing here, Lana! I just don't know if it's a good idea for me to bring Elizabeth on the back of a Pokémon. She's really small, after all. It might be a better idea for me to sit on the dock with her and fish from here instead."

"Oh, you'll be fine!" Lana assured her. "I've got a special seat for Elizabeth to use while the Pokémon is moving that'll keep her in place."

"Really?" Misty breathed, sounding impressed. "Where'd you get that?"

"From me!"

Everyone jumped as a short, rotund man appeared seemingly out of nowhere, a gray and white spiky Pokémon sitting atop his head.

"Seriously, Sophocles?" Kiawe growled.

"What can I say? I like to make an entrance," Sophocles chuckled. "Besides, I wasn't about to pass up the chance to show off my new electric powered jet pack!"

"Whoa, a jet pack?!" Aiden squealed.

Sophocles smirked at the excited boy. "That's right!" He spun around to reveal a large metal backpack slung over his shoulders. "I created this specifically to be powered by Togedemaru's electrical attacks! When she zaps, I zip!"

"Yikes," Kiawe muttered, turned off by Sophocles' bad pun.

"Oh come on, that was a good one!" Sophocles cried.

" _I_ liked it," Lana offered, smiling timidly at the shorter man.

"Togedemaru?" Aiden questioned. "Is that the name of the Pokémon that's on your head?"

"Sure is!" Sophocles confirmed. "Togedemaru is my partner!"

"Oh, like my Dad and Pikachu!" Aiden chuckled.

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu confirmed from his spot on Ash's shoulder.

Togedemaru suddenly shrieked with excitement and leapt off of Sophocles' head, tackling Pikachu and sending the electric mouse tumbling to the ground. Pikachu whined as Togedemaru rubbed up against him, happily squeaking as electricity danced off of her body.

"Guess Togedemaru still really likes Pikachu, huh?" Ash laughed nervously.

"Chu…" Pikachu grumbled.

Elizabeth giggled and clapped her hands together as she watched the two Pokémon roll around. "Hugs!"

"Doesn't seem like Pikachu really appreciates them, though," Misty mused.

"Mommy, pet!" Elizabeth cried, pulling at her mother's shirt.

"What?" Misty asked. "You want to play with the Pokémon?"

Elizabeth excitedly nodded her head, leading Misty to sigh. "So much for taking you out fishing on Alolan waters. Sophocles, would it be okay for Elizabeth to play with Togedemaru?"

"Of course!" Sophocles replied. "Togedemaru loves to play."

Misty placed Elizabeth on the dock and watched as the toddler teetered over to the pair of electric Pokémon, kneeling down beside them. Her shadow stretching over distracted Togedemaru from cuddling with Pikachu, and the roly-poly Pokémon hopped up, gazing at Elizabeth with its beady, unblinking eyes.

"Toge?" Togedemaru murmured.

"Hi!" Elizabeth chirped. "You'we cute. I wike you!"

Togedemaru instantly lit up and hopped over to the young girl, squeaking over and over as she tried to jump into the child's arms.

"See?" Sophocles chuckled. "She's not shy at all."

"Good, because neither is Lizzie," Misty snickered. "It's about time she met her match!"

Lana giggled at Misty's comment. "If Lizzie really likes playing with Pokémon, I've got a good playmate for her too!" Turning to face the ocean, Lana cupped her hands around her mouth and called, "Primarina!"

A large bubble suddenly broke through the sapphire blue surface of the water, growing larger and larger until it finally rose into the air. Inside of the bubble was a white and blue Pokémon with long, light blue hair and a darker blue mermaid-like tail. Michelle was transfixed by the creature, and as soon as Elizabeth saw the bubble, she was too.

The bubble came floating down to the dock and landed, popping to fully reveal the Pokémon inside. It let out a melodic chirp, and without wasting any time, Elizabeth squealed and ran over to it, still carrying Togedemaru in her arms.

"Pwetty!" Elizabeth cried.

"What Pokémon is that?!" Michelle gasped. "It looks just like a mermaid!"

"That's Primarina," Lana answered. "She's _my_ partner!"

"That's so cool!" Michelle breathed. "Hi, Primarina!"

The fully evolved starter Pokémon responded melodically once again, earning another giggle from Michelle and Elizabeth.

"Well, looks like the girls are happy," Ash chuckled.

"I'm glad, but I was _really_ looking forward to doing some fishing," Misty groaned.

"You go on ahead," Kiawe piped up. "I can keep an eye on Michelle and Elizabeth for you."

"That's sweet, Kiawe, but you don't have to," Misty replied.

"No, really, I insist," Kiawe countered. "I'm not a big fishing enthusiast anyway. I'd rather just stick around in the sun on dry land for a while."

Misty dropped her argument and smiled at the man. "That's very nice of you. Thanks, Kiawe!"

The fire specialist just hummed and gave a single nod of his head. Michelle and Elizabeth kept themselves preoccupied with Primarina and Togedemaru while everyone else boarded their ride Pokémon and prepared to fish. Almost as soon as everyone had left shore, Kiawe's phone started to ring. The girls were too distracted by the Pokémon to care or notice, but Kiawe was still alert enough to give it a look. As it would turn out, it was actually a video call, and seeing who was requesting it managed to put a relatively rare smile on the man's face.

"Hey, Lillie."

 _That_ caught Michelle and Elizabeth's attention. They both scurried over to Kiawe, gazing up at him with wide, glimmering eyes.

"You're talking to Lillie?!" Michelle squealed.

"Uh, yeah," Kiawe replied, taken off guard by the girls' sudden encroaching.

" _Oh, are those the girls?!"_

Kiawe let out a tired sigh. "Yeah, it is."

" _Let me say hi to them!"_

"Is that why you called?" Kiawe asked.

" _No, I had no idea you were with them!"_ Lillie cried. _"Just let me speak to them really quickly!"_

Without another word, Kiawe turned his phone around so it was facing Michelle and Elizabeth. Lillie's image was present on the screen, the pale blonde woman beaming as soon as she saw the children.

" _Hi you two!"_ Lillie greeted.

"Hi!" Elizabeth yelled before Michelle could say anything, earning a scowl from the older girl.

" _Are you all having fun in Alola?"_ Lillie questioned. _"What are you up to now?"_

"Mommy, Daddy, and Aiden went fishing with Lana and Sophocles," Michelle replied. "But me and Lizzie wanted to stay back and play with some of their Pokémon!"

" _Oh, that sounds like fun!"_ Lillie exclaimed. _"Is Kiawe watching you?"_

"Uh huh," Michelle confirmed, nodding her head.

" _Good, you'll have lots of fun with him!"_ Lillie giggled.

"Fun?" Elizabeth squeaked, glancing up at the unfamiliar man.

Lillie laughed at the young girl's reaction. _"Yeah, I promise! I know he looks all big and tough but he's really not! He's just a big, soft-"_

"Lillie, you're ruining my image!" Kiawe growled, turning the phone towards him.

" _You have an image?"_ Lillie asked innocently.

Kiawe groaned and chose not to directly answer that question. "What's up?"

" _Bill asked me to look after a young Charmander,"_ Lillie explained. _"But I don't have much experience with fire types. What would you recommend I give to him as a snack? Bill left me the food, but this little guy has been awfully well behaved and I'd like to treat him to something."_

Kiawe scoffed and finally allowed the smile to reappear on his face. "Haven't read about it in any of your books?"

" _Haha, very funny,"_ Lillie drawled. _"I thought you liked getting an ego boost every now and then? At least, that's what Mallow told me."_

Kiawe rolled his eyes. "Of course she did. Try giving Charmander a cheri berry. Fire types really like the spice of them."

" _Thank you!"_ Lillie trilled. _"Tell everyone else I said hello!"_

"Will do," Kiawe replied. And with that, the call ended.

"You know Lillie?" Michelle breathed as the man put his phone back in the pocket of his shorts.

"Sure do," Kiawe replied. "She used to live here in Alola before she moved out to Kanto. I bet you guys get to see her a whole lot, huh?"

Michelle beamed and nodded her head. "I love Lillie! She knows a whole bunch about Pokémon! She likes to share her books with me."

"Right, you like to read," Kiawe recalled.

"Do you?" Michelle squeaked.

Kiawe chuckled at the question. "Depends on what it is. I don't mind it, though."

Michelle smiled and looked out towards the ocean, where everyone else was in the thick of fishing. "It must be fun to live here and see this all the time!"

"It is," Kiawe confirmed. "Alola is different from most other regions, which is what makes it such an awesome place. Maybe later we can take you guys to The Pokémon School and show you around to give you an even better idea."

"The Pokémon School?" Michelle repeated. "Hey, that's where my daddy went! Is that where you met him?"

Kiawe nodded his head. "That's where we all met him. He was the new kid…sure was interesting."

"Yeah, that sounds like my daddy," Michelle agreed, earning a hearty laugh from Kiawe. "I really wanna go see that place!"

"-ool!" Elizabeth crooned, beaming up at her sister.

"Alright then," Kiawe chuckled. "That's where we'll go next."

* * *

 **So, surprise! We're not quite done in Alola just yet. There's so many characters and other aspects of the region we've seen so far that I couldn't fit them all into one story without it becoming a basically stand alone novel. So in the future, the kids will pay a visit to the Pokémon School and meet some more friends!**


	6. Daily Preparations

**Hello everyone! I know I missed Ash's birthday...I have a good reason! I was on a much needed vacation! And I just couldn't get the story done in time. But don't worry, I'm working on it! It'll just be a bit late. In the meantime, I have another one shot to share with you all to tide you over! This one is pure fluff and just cute and casual.**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 4 years old**

* * *

 **Daily Preparations**

Michelle grimaced as her father roughly pulled her bright red hair back. He wasn't doing it on purpose, and certainly wasn't meaning to hurt her. He didn't even know, in fact. Michelle didn't want to say anything. She was still pretty young, but she worried about upsetting people, _especially_ her father. He was really sweet and loved her so much, and the thought of hurting his feelings made Michelle feel really bad. Besides, all he was trying to do was put her hair in a ponytail. He said he could. Misty had seemed wary, but Ash insisted it was easy.

"I've seen you do it a hundred times," Ash had assured his unsure wife. "I can put Michelle's hair up no problem!"

Ash was usually a very gentle brusher, so Michelle didn't think it would be so bad. As it would turn out, however, Ash seemed to think that when it came to forming the actual ponytail, he needed to pull her hair back as tightly as he could. Which, naturally, was hurting the little girl.

"Almost finished!" Ash crowed, causing Michelle to quietly sigh in relief.

He gave her hair another yank, enough to pull Michelle back as her eyes widened. She felt him wrapping the elastic around her hair, and within a matter of seconds, his hands had released her newly formed ponytail.

"There, all set," Ash breathed. "I think it looks great!"

Michelle got to her feet and scurried over to a nearby mirror, gazing at her reflection. The ponytail her father had made was pulled almost comically high and set too far to the side. If she moved her head a certain way, it would swing right in front of her eye, blocking her vision.

"How's it going in-oh, no. That's not happening."

Ash groaned as Misty walked into the room, Michelle lifting her head up to watch as her mother approached her.

"What's wrong with it?" Ash demanded.

"That's not a practical hairstyle, Ash," Misty sighed. "It's hanging in Michelle's face!"

"I didn't think it was so bad…" Ash grumbled.

Misty looked over her shoulder and smiled at him. "You tried your best. I appreciate it! You just need a little more practice is all."

Ash finally dropped his pout and returned Misty's smile. "Alright. Guess you'll have to give me some more!"

"Gladly," Misty giggled. "Why don't you go check on Aiden for me? I think he might need some help brushing his teeth."

"If by 'help' you mean 'forcing,' then sure," Ash replied wisely, getting to his feet. "That I can do!"

Misty nodded as he left the room, gently pulling the elastic out of Michelle's hair. The little girl's bright red locks fell to her shoulders, the pressure in her head instantly dissipating.

"This was in so tight…" Misty muttered, glancing at the elastic. "Was that ponytail hurting you, Michelle?"

The girl quickly nodded her head, causing her mother to frown. "Why didn't you tell Daddy?"

"I didn't wanna make him feel bad, Mommy," Michelle squeaked.

"It's not hurtful if it's the truth," Misty patiently reminded her daughter.

"I guess," Michelle murmured. "But still…I don't ever wanna make Daddy feel bad!"

"Aw," Misty crooned, kneeling down and pulling Michelle into a hug. "You're such a sweet little girl! Much sweeter than Mommy was…" Misty pulled away and beamed at her pleased looking child. "You really are my little dream, Shelly."

Michelle giggled at her mother's comment, not fully comprehending it. Misty seemed to understand that, and gave Michelle a quick kiss on the forehead before turning the girl around so she could get to work on a new, neater ponytail.

"We have a lot to do today," Misty reminded her daughter, gently brushing the girl's hair. "Right? We have to go to the farmer's market, find some new sneakers for you and Aiden, visit the Pokémon Center-"

"Is Daddy coming?" Michelle interrupted.

Misty smiled sadly at the inquiry. "No, Daddy has to work."

"Oh," Michelle mumbled, frowning.

"Don't worry," Misty promised. "You'll see him tonight! Daddy promised me he'd come home early so we could all have dinner together and play for a bit. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Michelle nodded her head, resisted slightly by her mother pulling her hair up.

"And I already closed the gym for the day," Misty continued, finishing up Michelle's ponytail and spinning the girl back around. "No one is going to take me away from my babies today!"

Michelle giggled and threw herself onto her mother's lap, gleefully gazing up at the woman.

"Alright, you silly little thing," Misty teased, picking Michelle up by her sides so her crochet trimmed, mint green tank top rose up to reveal her belly button. Once she stood the girl up, Misty pulled down her shirt and continued, "We have to get a move on! Should we go see if Daddy got Aiden to brush his teeth?"

"Yeah!" Michelle laughed wildly, excited by the prospect that her brother might be causing trouble. Misty smirked and stood back up, walking out of Michelle's bedroom as the girl trailed her. They both stopped at the open doorway of the bathroom across the hall, peering in just in time to see Ash wiping at Aiden's face with a dry wash cloth.

"Oh, you succeeded!" Misty crowed.

Ash narrowed his eyes as he glanced over at Misty. "I think it might be easier to cage fight an Ursaring than getting Aiden to brush his teeth."

The young boy grabbed at the wash cloth with his little hands and yanked it away from his face, tilting his head back to look up at his father. "It's not fun brushing teeth, Daddy!"

"Neither is having your teeth rot out of your head," Ash teased, gently poking Aiden's nose.

"Brandon had a tooth fall out, but it wasn't…um…rotteded," Aiden replied, watching as his father placed his small red toothbrush back in its holder.

"Well yeah, it's okay if your tooth falls out naturally," Ash chuckled. "But if it falls out because you didn't care of it, that's not good!"

"Oh, okay," Aiden chirped before taking a flying leap off of his step stool. "Mommy, am I gonna get new sneakers?"

"Yes, you are," Misty confirmed, smirking when she saw Ash's stunned face.

"How come I can't keep mine?" Aiden asked, tilting his head.

"Because they have holes in them," Misty explained. "Remember your toe started sticking out of one?"

Aiden laughed at the memory. "Uh huh! That was funny!"

"Yeah, hilarious," Misty snickered. "Come on, let's go downstairs and get ready to head out."

Aiden squeezed past her and started chasing after Michelle, who shrieked loudly and started to run herself. Misty sighed tiredly and whipped around, watching the two over her shoulder. "Don't run down the stairs! I don't want either of you falling and getting hurt!"

Ash chuckled and strode up to Misty, playfully winking at her. "They'll be fine! They run down those stairs without a problem all the time."

"That doesn't mean I want them to do it!" Misty groaned. "All it takes is one slip…"

"Might as well trail them then," Ash replied, shuffling sideways to pass Misty. "I'm probably running late at this point."

"You're going to tell me they're not used to that by now?" Misty quipped, walking back into the hallway.

"They are," Ash refuted. "But I at least try my best to be on time after a weekend. Then I just look _really_ lazy."

The young couple made their way down the stairs, which Aiden and Michelle had already managed to do without incident. They were both playing with Pikachu and Vaporeon, chasing the Pokemon all over the living room. Pikachu would jump up on the couch and run across it, one of the twins running after him until he hopped off. Vaporeon, on the other hand, would crouch down and take a flying leap as soon as one of the kids got close enough, repeating this from wherever she landed last.

"Whoa, lots of energy in here," Ash whistled. "Hey, Pikachu!"

The yellow mouse stopped in his tracks, ears perking as he glanced up at his trainer. "Pikapi!"

"I hate to interrupt playtime, but we're going to be later for work," Ash sighed.

Pikachu nodded understandingly, giving both Aiden and Michelle a quick lick on their shins before scurrying over to Ash. They both whined in disapointment, causing their father to frown.

"I'm really sorry, guys," Ash apologized. "I know how much fun you were having! But you can play again once Pikachu and I come home tonight."

Neither twin seemed placated with that arrangement. Ash still felt guilty for breaking up the game, even though he really didn't have a choice. Misty, however, was keen to her husband's feelings, and quickly stepped in.

"Don't worry, we have to get going too!" Misty reassured the pouty kids. "And the quicker we get all of our errands done, the sooner we can go to the bakery and get some cookies!"

 _That_ perked the twins up. With high pitched giggles, the two of them bustled towards the front door, grabbing a hold of their shoes and dropping to the floor in order to put them on.

"You sure know how to get them to cooperate," Ash laughed.

"It's easy enough to figure out," Misty calmly replied, although she was sporting a rather boastful smirk. "They're your children, so a good way to get to their hearts _or_ their heads is through their stomachs."

"Really?" Ash sounded incredulous. "Even Michelle? Who eats like a Pidgey?"

"She may be a dainty eater, but she's still a kid," Misty giggled. "She can't turn down things like sweets!"

"Mommy, I'm gonna wear these!"

Misty turned her head and grimaced as soon as she saw that Aiden was holding up his ratty blue and black sneakers.

"No, Aiden, those are destroyed, you can't wear them," Misty groaned. "That's why we're going to get you new ones."

"But I like them," Aiden droned.

"I know you do, but they're falling apart," Misty reasoned with him. "Give me those. You'll just wear sandals for now."

Frowning, Aiden trudged over to his mother and reluctantly handed over the worn sneakers. Misty thanked him before he headed back towards the front door, and then held up the sneakers to examine them. They were, just as Misty had said, completely trashed: dirty and covered in holes. The bottom of one sneaker was even beginning to tear away from the rest of the shoe.

"I feel like I have to buy Aiden a new pair of sneakers every three months," Misty grumbled. "I can't tell if it's because they're making these things flimsier, or if he's just that rough on them."

"Probably a combination of both," Ash chuckled, rubbing underneath Pikachu's chin. "I went through a lot of sneakers as a kid too, but not nearly as many as Aiden does."

Before either Ash or Misty could process it, the twins had managed to pull their sandals on, and both were reaching up for the doorknob, trying to pull the door open.

"Alright, looks like you're both raring to go!" Ash remarked, regaining Aiden and Michelle's attention and earning big grins from the two of them. "Guess we can all walk out together."

"Sounds good to me!" Misty chirped. "Vaporeon, you want to come with us?"

The water type mewled and slinked over to her trainer, rubbing against the gym leader's legs.

"I'll take that as a yes," Misty giggled.

Ash reached forward and unlocked the front door, pulling his hand back as Aiden quickly grabbed for the doorknob and began twisting it open.

"I got it!" Aiden called as the door swung open. He and Michelle both ran outside, bolting down the walkway as they overflowed with excitement.

Misty exhaled and she tilted her head back. "I have a feeling this is going to be a _long_ day."

"Yeah, but you got it," Ash replied. "I believe in you!"

Misty scoffed, but still showed off a smile. "Alright, you'd better get going. Or else Goodshow will have your head."

Instead of firing back with his own comment, Ash bent down and gave Misty a kiss. Once they separated, he looked towards the twins and called, "you two behave for Mommy, alright?"

They nodded excitedly, causing Ash to laugh. "Great! See you guys later!"

"Later," Misty replied, watching as Ash walked towards the car. She then moved closer to the twins, who were standing hand-in-hand and chattering away to one another. "You guys ready to get some stuff done?"

"Yeah!" They both cheered.

"Good energy!" Misty complimented, placing her hands on her hips. "Let's see how long that lasts…"

* * *

 **I was mostly fixated on the idea of Ash trying to do Michelle's hair, but then I just kept adding onto it. I love writing the day-to-day stuff!**


	7. Birthday Blunder

**I promised you all Ash's birthday story, and here it is! Exactly one week later isn't too bad, right?**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 7 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 21 months old**

* * *

 **Birthday Blunder**

Misty needed a plan.

Her husband was dense, but somehow, he _always_ seemed to catch onto things whenever she didn't actually want him to. So when it came to surprising him, Misty had to treat the whole thing like an elaborate mission.

Ash's 29th birthday was quickly approaching, and Misty knew she wanted to do something special for him. Aiden and Michelle, who were old enough to join in on her plans, thought it would be fun to throw their father a party. Misty actually thought it was a pretty good idea, although she did have to remind the twins that it couldn't be the same kind of party they would have.

"What's that mean?" Aiden questioned.

"That means nothing like bouncy castles or video games," Misty replied.

"But Daddy loves those things!" Michelle cried.

"I know he does," Misty confessed with a sigh, earning victorious smiles from her children. "I just thought maybe we could give him more of a…grown up party? Since, you know, he _is_ a grown up."

"Dad's too cool to be a grown up," Aiden commented.

Misty smirked and placed her hands on her hips. "What about me? Am I too cool to be a grown up?"

Aiden began nervously looking around the room, quickly throwing out one of his arms to point at the head of his parents' bed. "You have a cool pillow!"

"I'll take that as a no," Misty groaned, hanging her head.

"Well, we definitely need a cake!" Michelle piped up, eager to change the subject. "All parties have cake!"

"And Dad's favorite thing to do is eat, so we need lots of other food too," Aiden chimed in.

"Right, food is definitely important," Misty agreed.

"And we should have all red and blue decorations, cause those are Daddy's favorite colors!" Michelle added.

"But have a bunch of Pikachu stuff also," Aiden suggested.

"You two have some very good ideas!" Misty complimented the twins. "I think it might be a good idea if we went out and started getting some of the stuff we need. What do you guys think?"

"Yeah!" Aiden cheered.

"But what about Daddy?" Michelle asked. "Isn't he gonna think something weird is going on when we go without him?"

"That's going to be our only problem," Misty grumbled. "We have to come up with a really good excuse about why we're all going out."

"Oh, I know!" Aiden cried. "Just tell Dad you had to go out and buy some clothes!"

"Aiden, that'll make Daddy freak out," Michelle sighed.

"Why?" Aiden questioned.

"Cause he always does that whenever Mommy says she's going shopping!" Michelle exclaimed.

"You know, I didn't realize that by trying to figure something out for Daddy's birthday I was going to get called out left and right…" Misty muttered.

"What if we just tell him we have to go to the grocery store?" Michelle asked.

"Then he'll wanna come!" Aiden whined. "The only kind of shopping Dad likes is for food."

Michelle hummed and furrowed her brow as she tried to think up another excuse. Aiden observed his sister for a moment before doing the same. Misty, on the other hand, seemed to have already come up with an idea of her own.

"I don't think we have to mention anything about shopping," Misty began, gaining the twins' attention. "What if we just tell Daddy we're going to visit your aunts for a little while?"

Both kids' faces lit up at the suggestion, Aiden lunging forward. "That's a good idea! Dad _never_ wants to visit Aunt Daisy, Aunt Violet, and Aunt Lily!"

"He won't ask us a bunch of questions cause he won't care!" Michelle giggled.

"Okay, so that's the story we're going to go with," Misty decided. "Let's head downstairs and sell it!"

Aiden and Michelle scurried out of the bedroom and down the hall. Misty followed the two right down the stairs, expecting to find Ash in the same spot he'd been before: playing with Elizabeth on the living room floor. The twins came to a grinding halt at the foot of the stairs, however, causing Misty to raise an eyebrow.

"What are you guys-"

"Look!" Michelle cried in a hushed voice, pointing towards the couch.

Ash was sprawled out on it and snoring, his left arm hanging off the side and his right draped over the back of Elizabeth, who was fast asleep on his chest.

"Huh, guess we didn't have to make up any kind of story," Misty murmured.

"I can't believe Dad still takes naps," Aiden bemoaned. "Maybe he's not as cool as I thought…"

"We have to get out of here while they're asleep," Misty informed her two older children. "So out the front door as quietly as possible!"

Aiden and Michelle followed their mother's orders and briskly walked towards the front door, swinging it open and walking right outside. Misty cast one last glance at Ash and Elizabeth before sneaking out as well, closing the front door behind her as quietly as possible. Ash, of course, was an extremely heavy sleeper, and heard nothing.

So when he awoke a little while later, he was confused by the quiet in the house. Sitting up and keeping the still sleeping Elizabeth secure against his chest, Ash looked around the room, blinking his brown eyes.

"This is…kinda unusual…" Ash muttered to himself. "Quiet in this house is usually a bad thing…"

Elizabeth let out a small yawn and opened her own eyes, tilting her head back to stare at her bewildered father.

"Dada?" She babbled.

Ash glanced down at the toddler and smiled. "Hey, you're up! How's my little pumpkin?"

Elizabeth giggled and rubbed her cheek against Ash's chest, causing him to chuckle.

"Guess you're in a good mood after that nap!" Ash crowed.

Standing up from the couch, Ash walked over towards the kitchen and peered through the doorway, furrowing his brow when he didn't see anyone. He then took a step back and looked up the stairs, listening closely for voices or footsteps. But again…nothing.

"Misty?" Ash called. No response. "Aiden? Michelle?" Not a sound.

Elizabeth looked up at her father again. "Mommy? Denny? Shewwy?"

"I don't think they're here, sweetie," Ash crooned. "But where could they have gone…?"

"Pika!"

Ash looked down and realized that Elizabeth was pointing at Pikachu, who was still fast asleep on the couch's armrest.

"Oh, I see, you're just looking for someone to play with!" Ash laughed. "Well, you can't play with Pikachu right now. He's sleeping!"

Elizabeth lowered her arm and instead turned her big green eyes up towards her father. "Dada!"

Ash smirked. "Yeah, I can play with you! Since everyone else is gone, apparently…"

He placed the toddler on the floor and watched her scurry towards the center of the room, where all of the toys from before her and Ash's nap had been left. Plopping down on the floor, the little girl picked up one of her stuffed baby dolls and wrapped her arms around it, giving the toy a big hug as she rocked it back and forth.

Ash, however, was still confused about the unknown whereabouts of his wife and two older children. He wasn't necessarily worried, since they weren't in the house and had probably just gone off somewhere. Mostly, Ash was curious about _where_ they had gone, and what they were up to. Them sneaking around usually meant something was up…very often, that meant a surprise for him. Ash knew he didn't catch onto things very quickly, but when it came to things like his birthday, which was quickly approaching, Misty was always sneaking around and trying to do things for Ash without him noticing. That's why he was always proud when he managed to figure out what she was doing; because usually, Misty was really good at it.

"Dada…"

Ash felt something constrict around his calf. Glancing down, he realized it was Elizabeth's arm. She was holding the stuffed doll in her other arm, and was once again staring up at her father with a look of innocence.

"Hmm?" Ash hummed.

"Pway wif me!" Elizabeth squeaked.

"Right, I'm sorry!" Ash apologized, taking a seat next to his young daughter. "Daddy got distracted."

Elizabeth didn't seem to mind all too much. As soon as Ash was sitting with her, she showed off a big smile and handed her toy over to him.

"You're giving me your baby?" Ash asked, causing Elizabeth to nod her head. "Oh, well, thank you! I'll take very good care of her for you!"

With the doll out of her hands, Elizabeth instead reached for a sparkly pink rubber ball. With an unintelligible and excited squeal, Elizabeth tossed the ball as hard as she could, causing it to bounce off the wall and whir right past Ash, nearly hitting him in the face. He gasped and stumbled back, turning his head just in time to see the ball hit the couch and settle on the floor with a few extra bounces. Pikachu managed to sleep through the minor chaos, fortunately, but Elizabeth was still laughing her head off, finding it to be just about the funniest thing.

"Elizabeth, no balls in the house," Ash groaned, crawling over to retrieve it. "Did you bring this in from outside?"

Elizabeth proudly nodded her head once again.

"We have to put this back outside, okay?" Ash continued. "We don't want to break anything in here!"

"Denny ball?" Elizabeth squeaked.

"Yeah, Aiden plays with his baseballs outside," Ash replied.

Elizabeth reached for the ball again, but Ash moved it further away. The little girl began to fuss, but quieted down as soon as her father gave her back the stuffed doll she had given to him before. While Elizabeth quietly tended to her toy, Ash rested his head in his hand and started to think. Maybe Misty had said something to Elizabeth about going out? It sounded silly, because Elizabeth wasn't even 2 yet. But Ash also knew that anything was possible, especially when it came to his wife. With Misty, he had to expect _everything_.

"Lizzie, did you know it's almost Daddy's birthday?" Ash asked the toddler.

Elizabeth looked up from her toy and shook her head.

"No?" Ash playfully gasped. "Well, that's okay. You're still little, after all!"

"Dada dis?" Elizabeth babbled, holding up one hand with her fingers all spread out.

"No, I'm going to be much older than that," Ash laughed. "But thank you for the compliment!"

Elizabeth giggled, not fully understanding her father but enjoying the fact that he was happy.

"Sometimes, before my birthday, Mommy goes out to get me presents," Ash continued, carefully eyeing his daughter. "Do you know if that's where Mommy went?"

Elizabeth continued to giggle as she shook her head.

"No?" Ash murmured, slumping his shoulders.

"No, Dada," Elizabeth replied, glancing down as she patted the face of her stuffed doll.

Ash sighed and stretched his arms out behind him. "Alright, so I guess she didn't say anything to you. Worth a shot though, right?"

"No, Dada," Elizabeth repeated.

Ash sat back up straight and pulled his poke gear out of his pocket. "Maybe I should just call her and get a straight answer. Or at least freak her out a little."

He dialed her number and dutifully watched the screen, waiting for her to pick up.

 **XXX**

Meanwhile, Misty and the two older children were at the party supply store, picking out decorations for Ash's surprise party. As soon as Misty's poke gear started ringing, she knew exactly who it was, and her heart shot up into her throat.

"You two keep looking, okay?" Misty told the twins, trying to reach for her poke gear as discreetly as possible. "I'll be right back!"

"Where are you going?" Aiden asked, tilting his head.

"I just wanted to take a look at something in the next aisle," Misty quickly replied. "I can trust you both to stay together, right?"

Aiden and Michelle wordlessly nodded their heads, watching as their mother scurried off to the next aisle. Once she was away from the twins, Misty answered the incoming call, keeping her voice as level as possible.

"Hey, Ash!" She greeted smoothly.

"Hey," Ash replied from the other end. "Where are you, Aiden, and Michelle? I just woke up from a nap and you guys were gone."

"Oh yeah, you were asleep when we left," Misty continued. "We just went to visit my sisters is all."

"Your sisters?" Ash repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep, no big deal," Misty breathed. "I didn't think it was worth waking you or Elizabeth up just to tell you that. We'll be back in a little while!"

"Why'd you go to visit your sisters?" Ash questioned. "Did they need something from you?"

Misty's eye twitched. She was really hoping Ash was just going to drop it after hearing that! "No, we just wanted to drop by."

"Really?" Ash prodded. "Even Aiden?"

"Yes, even Aiden," Misty grumbled. "He's becoming a very considerate young man! You should be proud of him!"

"I'm always proud of him," Ash chuckled. "But when did he start wanting to actually visit his aunts? In the past hour I was asleep?"

"Why are you asking me so many questions?" Misty pressed, trying to turn the heat around on her husband instead of her.

"I just wanted to know where you guys were, that's all," Ash assured her.

"It sounds like you're being nosy," Misty scolded.

"Me? Nosy?" Ash gasped. "Never!"

Misty groaned and rolled her eyes. "Listen, I have to go. Daisy needs help with something in the living room."

"Something, huh?" Ash teased. "Would that something have to do with my birthday by any chance?"

Misty swore a vein was about to pop out of her forehead. "No! It doesn't! Keep your attention on Elizabeth. See you later."

And before Ash could say anything else, she disconnected the call. Misty sighed heavily and lowered her arms to her sides, trying to get her thoughts back in order.

"What did Dad want?"

Misty jumped and whipped around, finding Aiden and Michelle standing just inches away from her.

"Guys, don't do that!" Misty whined.

"Is he onto us?" Michelle questioned, ignoring her mother's complaint.

"Like a Shellder on a Slowpoke's tail," Misty grumbled.

"Did you tell him we were with Aunt Daisy, Aunt Violet, and Aunt Lily?" Aiden asked.

"I did," Misty confirmed.

"And he was _still_ asking questions?!" Aiden exclaimed. "Wow, Dad is even nosier than me!"

Misty smirked at her son's comment. "It'll be fine. We just have to make sure that when we get back home, we're all cool, calm, and collected."

"And we have to hide all the stuff we buy," Michelle added.

"Yes, that too," Misty sighed.

 **XXX**

Back at home, Ash stared at his poke gear with a bemused expression.

"You sneaky little thing," Ash muttered.

"Wha?"

Ash glanced up and realized Elizabeth was staring at him, looking rather confused. He chuckled and gently cupped the girl's cheek, much to her delight.

"Not you, sweetie," Ash crooned. "You're Daddy's baby! You're a very good little girl."

Elizabeth smiled and sprawled herself out on the floor, reaching up to grab onto her father's finger the same way she had as a baby. Ash laughed and lowered his hand, making it easier for Elizabeth to hold onto him. His other hand, which held his poke gear, he moved into his pocket in order to stash away the device.

"Whatever, I don't have to ask any other questions," Ash murmured. "I know that whole story about visiting her sisters was a total cover up. Wonder what they're out getting for my birthday, though…"

* * *

 **Ash knows when it's important to really pay attention ;)**


	8. Kitty Caper

**This feels like a well timed story update, considering this morning's episode of Sun and Moon was very Team Rocket centric. This one focuses on just one member of the team, however, and I think you're all able to guess from the title which member it is!**

 **Elizabeth: 3 years old**

* * *

 **Kitty Caper**

 _Aw man, how'd I get stuck chasin- after da twoips?_

Meowth trudged through the streets of Cerulean City, his head hanging low. Jessie and James had instructed him to go off on his own and find the twerps. What were _they_ doing, you might ask?

Eating lunch.

"I woulda liked to eat too," Meowth grumbled, furrowing his brow more deeply.

He'd been wandering through the city for almost an hour searching for the twerpish family, and so far he'd seen neither hide nor hair of them. Meowth didn't understand why he couldn't have lunch with the rest of the team and then all go out together to search for the twerps.

"By da time I get back, all dat food'll be gone," Meowth continued complaining.

As he continued dragging himself through the streets, he soon found himself at the top of a hill. When he looked over, he gasped as soon as a familiar, large domed building came into view: the Cerulean City gym. Just like that, his mood was uplifted instantly. After all, if there was any place to look for the twerps, that was it!

With newfound invigoration, Meowth charged down the hill, laughing excitedly as the gym got closer and closer. As soon as he reached the door, however, his face fell once again, and a familiar sense of dread washed over him.

"CLOSED?!" Meowth shrieked, reading the sign on the door. He turned away from the gym, scowling as he did so. "Great. Where am I supposed to find da twoips now?"

Meowth's question seemed to be answered when the sound of nearby giggles could be heard. Once he turned his head, he realized there was a house not far down the road. As he moved closer that way, the giggles became louder. Growing suspicious, Meowth broke out into a sprint, following the sound of giggling. This brought him to the side of the house, and when he peered around, he found a little redheaded girl playing in the backyard.

The littlest twerp.

 _I don't believe dis! What luck!_ Meowth thought to himself, excitedly pumping his fist. _I stumbled right across da baby twoipette! Now I can nab her and bring her back to the gang! Jessie and James will totally-_

"Meow!"

Meowth blinked and turned around, yelping out of surprise when he realized the little girl had ambled over to him and was now standing with her face just inches away from his.

"Heh…" Meowth laughed nervously. He couldn't say anything in response. If he did, it would blow his cover! "Me-owth!"

Elizabeth giggled and grabbed the normal type by his arm, pulling him deeper into the yard. Meowth whined and looked frantically over his shoulder, which only made the situation worse.

 _Oh right. Jessie and James aren't here cause dey ditched me for lunch!_

The young girl managed to drag Meowth all the way to the middle of the yard. Eventually, she came to a stop and spun around to smile at the bewildered cat Pokémon.

"You'we cute," Elizabeth giggled, tilting her head to the side.

"Th-uuuh…meow!" Meowth purred.

"Pway dwess up!" Elizabeth commanded, still beaming at the normal type.

"HUH?!" Meowth cried.

Elizabeth giggled again, not realizing that Meowth's speech had just slipped. The little girl reached into a small box that was sitting in the grass and pulled out a pink bow. Meowth's eyes widened and shifted to the girl's other side, where he found a collection of dolls; their hair adorned by similar accessories.

"Stay!" Elizabeth commanded, holding a palm out in front of the cat. Meowth complied (mostly because he was unsure of what else to do) and before he knew it, the pink bow was clipped right in front of his left ear.

"Thewe!" Elizabeth squealed before tilting her head to the side. "You look so pwetty!"

"Me…owth…" Meowth sighed, sagging his shoulders.

"Let's show Mommy!" Elizabeth cried, grabbing Meowth's paw and once again dragging him along.

Needless to say, Meowth was now panicking even _more_. "Mommy" meant the twerpette. And if the _twerpette_ saw that her little daughter was associating with _him_ , he probably wouldn't make it out of her clutches alive.

Officially terrified, Meowth unleashed a loud, distressed "re-ow!" and yanked his paw out of Elizabeth's hand, causing the little girl to whip around. Her eyes were set wide, and a look of concern was visible on her face. For a short moment, Meowth felt guilty. Still, he couldn't risk a run-in with the twerpette. With renewed resolve, he started to run, going as fast as his short legs would take him.

And unfortunately for him, that attempt was quickly thwarted by a small rock jutting out of the ground.

Meowth landed flat on his face, moaning in pain as Elizabeth hovered over him with a frown on her face.

"Oh no, Meow!" Elizabeth cried. She knelt down and grabbed onto the cat's sides, pulling him back upright with all of her strength. Amazingly, even after face planting, the pink bow had remained firmly clipped in Meowth's fur.

"Owth…" Meowth groaned, glancing at Elizabeth. The little girl's smile had returned once she realized Meowth was alright, and when he saw that, he softened considerably.

"Come!" Elizabeth urged, once again grabbing Meowth's paw. "Come wif me!"

This time, Meowth didn't struggle. He allowed Elizabeth to pull him back to his feet and towards the house, staring at the back of her head as she pulled him along. She reached the back door and used all of her might to slide it open, just wide enough for her to squeeze in. She yanked Meowth through the tight space, earning another pained shriek from the Pokémon.

"Mommy!" Elizabeth cried.

Misty, who was sitting at the kitchen table, looked towards the floor and smiled at her daughter. "You sound so excited, Lizzie! Did you find something outside?"

"Uh huh!" Elizabeth chirped. She stepped aside to reveal the bow clad Meowth, who was shaking from the tips of his ears all the way down to his back paws. "Meow!"

Meowth continued to tremble as Misty raised an eyebrow. She was starting to look a little suspicious, and that only made the normal type more nervous.

"Elizabeth, where did you find that Meowth?" Misty questioned.

"In the yawd!" Elizabeth replied. "Look, Mommy! I giveded Meow a bow!"

"I see that…" Misty murmured. "That Meowth doesn't talk, does it…?"

Meowth was shaking like a leaf at that point, but he stilled when Elizabeth started to giggle. "No! Meow's don't talk, Mommy."

Misty rested her head in her hand, still staring at Meowth with narrowed eyes. "Right…"

"I wanna get a toy fow Meow," Elizabeth continued. "Mommy, watch Meow?"

Before Misty could respond, Elizabeth took off, causing her mother to sigh and shake her head. "Sure. Why not."

Getting up from her chair, Misty skirted over to Meowth, squatting in front of the normal type. The Pokémon grinned nervously and took a shaky step backwards, but Misty was not deterred.

"Alright, I'm not stupid," Misty stated. "I know you're Meowth from Team Rocket."

Meowth gasped. "How'd ya figure dat out?!"

"Because a normal Meowth doesn't walk on its hind legs," Misty deadpanned.

"Well ya kid didn't seem tah care," Meowth grumbled.

"My kid is 3," Misty scoffed.

"So?" Meowth pressed. "Ya twoip husband probably wouldn'ta noticed eit-er!"

"We're not talking about Ash right now," Misty dismissed. "What's your deal? What are you trying to do with my daughter?"

"What, I can't just stop by and play wit- da kid?" Meowth questioned.

"Members of Team Rocket generally don't come around to _play_ with my children," Misty bit. "They come around to try and lure them away from me."

Meowth froze up again. "Uh…not me!"

"You're a liar," Misty growled.

Meowth pouted at the accusation. "Hey, dat hurts."

"Not as bad as this will," Misty hissed, grabbing Meowth by the scruff of his neck and holding his face up to hers as he squirmed. "Now you listen, and you listen good. My daughter thinks you're an innocent little Meowth, and I refuse for her to know you're actually a criminal. So whatever it is you _really_ came here to do, you're going to drop it and play with her until I can get her down for a nap. Then you're out of here. Got it?"

"Uh…g-got it," Meowth stammered.

"Good." And with that, Misty released Meowth and sent him back to the floor.

"Hewe, Meow!"

Elizabeth came barreling back into the kitchen, a stuffed Glameow in her hands.

"Oh, what is that?" Misty asked.

"Fwiend for Meow!" Elizabeth chirped.

"That's so sweet of you, Lizzie!" Misty giggled.

Elizabeth took another step closer to Meowth, holding the stuffed Glameow out towards him. Meowth looked up from the toy to Elizabeth's face, and saw her big smile and sparkling green eyes. She seemed genuinely happy to offer him the toy…like sharing something of hers with him was the best thing she could possibly do.

That buttered Meowth up like nothing else.

"Me…ow," Meowth murmured, gently taking the toy from Elizabeth.

"She's soft!" Elizabeth giggled, gently stroking the toy. "See?"

Meowth rubbed the stuffed Glameow against his cheek, purring contently when their fur touched. Elizabeth laughed joyfully at the sound, while Misty arched an eyebrow. She had never heard _that_ out of Team Rocket's Meowth before. It almost made him seem like a real, good Pokémon.

"You'we soft too," Elizabeth continued, petting Meowth between the ears. The normal type perked up, his ears twitching at the contact. "Fwuffy Meow!"

Meowth started to purr again, this time lowering himself to all fours and inching closer to Elizabeth so he could rub against her. The toddler giggled and continued petting him, happy with the attention from the scratch cat Pokémon.

"Elizabeth, what do you say we go take a nap now?" Misty prodded, hoping her daughter was tired enough to give in.

"No, Mommy!" Elizabeth whined. "I'm not sweepy! And I wanna pway wif Meow!"

Misty sighed and hung her head. "Alright, you can play. Just for a little bit though, okay? Then you have to take a nap."

"Kay," Elizabeth chirped before beaming at Meowth. "Let's pway!"

She once again grabbed Meowth's paw and pulled him into the living room. Misty groaned and got up from her seat, reluctantly following after the pair. She would've loved some more time to herself, but there was no way she was going to leave _Meowth_ alone with her daughter. Misty didn't trust that cat as far as she could throw him.

Which sounded pretty good at the moment.

In the middle of the living room floor, Elizabeth was handing Meowth a plastic teacup. Meowth carefully studied the trinket, while Misty was just displeased.

"Elizabeth," Misty breathed, "what is your tea set doing down here? That's supposed to stay in your bedroom, remember?"

"Yeah, but I was pwaying wif it!" Elizabeth chirped.

"You couldn't play with it upstairs?" Misty questioned.

Elizabeth shook her head before continuing to lay out her toy tea set. Misty slumped down onto the couch, folding her arms and crossing her legs.

"Will you bring it back upstairs when you're finished playing?" Misty requested. This time, Elizabeth smiled and nodded her head. "Thank you, sprinkle!"

Meowth looked up from the teacup and towards Misty. She was watching the little girl with a smile on her face and didn't seem the least bit bothered about something being out of place. Basically, she was not the twerpette Meowth had known for years.

"Tea pawty time!" Elizabeth announced, regaining Meowth's attention. She sat down across from the Pokémon and beamed at him, holding up her toy teapot. "Thiwsty?"

Meowth smiled and nodded his head. Elizabeth tilted the teapot over Meowth's cup, but nothing came out of it. Meowth's eyes widened, and he glanced up at the little girl with a look of betrayal. Elizabeth, however, didn't notice it, and was otherwise completely unaffected.

"Thewe!" She chirped, pulling the teapot back towards her. "Caweful, is hot!"

Meowth grimaced and glanced over his shoulder at Misty. She didn't take any pity on the Pokémon, however, and simply scowled at him in response. With a sigh, Meowth picked up his teacup and blew into it before pretending to drink out of the cup.

"Do you wike it?" Elizabeth squeaked. Meowth lowered the cup and nodded his head. "Yay! Awe you hungwy too?"

The scratch cat's eyes glimmered with hope. Elizabeth giggled in response and held out a small plastic plate with a slice of cake on top…also made of plastic.

Frowning, Meowth began to pout, and Elizabeth's own smile quickly disappeared. Before she could ask him what was wrong, however, his stomach growled loudly, causing the normal type to blush furiously.

"Oh!" Elizabeth chirped. "You'we _weally_ hungwy!"

"Meow…" Meowth sighed, slowly nodding his head.

Elizabeth looked over at her mother. "Mommy, can we feed Meow?"

Misty glared at Meowth, who kept the pout on his face. His stomach suddenly growled again, which only further embarrassed the Pokémon.

"Alright," Misty decided, getting to her feet. "I'll go get him something."

Elizabeth smiled until her mother's words hit her, at which point she jumped up. " _Him?!_ Meow's a _giwl!_ "

Meowth's eyes snapped open, and he whipped around with a horrified stare.

 **XXX**

It didn't take too much "tea party" time before Elizabeth was basically falling asleep on the living room floor.

Meowth, who was in a much better mood after Misty had brought him some snacks, watched in intrigue as the little girl yawned and rubbed at her eyes, nearly falling over as she reached for her toy teacup.

"Finally," Misty breathed, just audible enough for Meowth to hear. He watched as the woman walked over to Elizabeth, gathering the child in her arms. "I think someone is ready for their nap."

Elizabeth whined and shook her head, though she was soon rubbing her eyes again. Misty smirked and kissed the girl's forehead, which she then put down on her mother's shoulder. Misty gave her daughter one last smile before sending a judgmental gaze towards Meowth, who seemed flustered.

"I'm going to put her down for a nap," Misty informed the cat. "You don't move a muscle."

Meowth just sighed and arched an eyebrow, but he followed Misty's orders and stayed in his spot. She brought her daughter upstairs and, within a few minutes, was back downstairs alone. She stepped in front of Meowth, her arms folded with a look of annoyance on her face. Meowth rolled his eyes and looked away indignantly, preparing for the twerpette to exact some kind of revenge on him.

"Thank you."

Those two words made his ears twitch. He glanced up at Misty, his brow furrowed. "Huh?"

"Thank you," Misty repeated. "For playing along with Elizabeth. She's just a little kid, and she's very trusting and loving."

"Yeah yeah," Meowth grumbled. "But…I _guess_ da baby twoipette ain't so bad."

Misty smirked. "You know, that's a compliment coming from you!"

"Don't get used tah it," Meowth warned, finally pulling the pink bow out of his fur.

"Trust me, I won't," Misty promised. "But that doesn't change the fact that I really am grateful to you for letting Elizabeth think you were just an ordinary Meowth."

Meowth was about to roll his eyes, but stopped when an idea popped into his head. He looked up at the gym leader with a wicked grin, bewildering the woman.

"So, since ya so happy -bout what I did, would ya be willin- to do sometin fah me?" Meowth questioned.

Misty thought about it for a moment before reluctantly replying, "Maybe…"

Clapping his paws together, Meowth continued, "It's real simple! All ya gotta do is gimme just one of ya Pokémon!"

Misty's eyes widened. "Excuse me?!"

"I don't tink dat's such a big deal," Meowth calmly replied, shrugging his shoulders. "What's one measly Pokémon really mean to ya anyways?"

"A lot," Misty fired back. "I've raised and trained all of my Pokémon myself! They're basically part of my family! You're insane if you think I'm just going to hand one over to you."

"But you were sooo grateful tah me fa playin- with da baby towipette!" Meowth drawled.

"Not _that_ grateful," Misty growled. "And stop calling her a baby twerpette!"

Meowth sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "And here I thought yous twoips always stood by ya word! Makes me wonder who the real bad guys are –round here…"

Misty's face flashed red, and she pulled the front door open. "Get out of here before I throw you out!"

Meowth yelped and charged right out the door, running at full speed down the walkway. As he scurried off, he nearly ran into a newly arrived Ash, which only frightened the villainous Pokémon even more. He continued shrieking as he ran off, Ash looking over his shoulder to watch him go. Once Meowth was out of sight, Ash turned towards his wife, a look of bewilderment plastered on his face.

"Pika?" Pikachu squeaked from his trainer's shoulder.

"Misty," Ash began, "how come you're inviting random Pokémon into our house?"

Her eyes widened at the question. "Did you not see who that was?"

"Yeah, it was a Meowth," Ash replied. "It sure seemed freaked out."

Misty could barely find the words to respond. "You…you think that was just some regular old Meowth?"

"…yeah?" Ash breathed.

The gym leader slumped her shoulders and sighed. "Get inside."

"Alright," Ash muttered, continuing to make his way to the front steps. "Still kind of want to know what was up with that Meowth though."

Misty shook her head as Ash walked past her. "Trust me, you don't."

* * *

 **Sometimes it's better to be naïve about what's going on. Ash should be grateful he doesn't know, because if he did, he would not be too happy!**


	9. Seaside Diner

**I went to the beach today, which was fun until I got home and realized I got a nasty sunburn (even though I used sunscreen TWICE. Uuugh.) But I'm still in the ocean/sea/sun mode, despite that, and thought this was a good choice for the next update!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 3 years old**

* * *

 **Seaside Diner**

Vacationing in Porta Vista was easily one of Misty's favorite things in the whole world.

The year-round sun and warm temperatures were right up her alley. She was just not a winter person, and if she could spend every day of her life on the beach, she absolutely would. Of course, being the Cerulean City gym leader meant she couldn't do that. But for the week or two she could escape to Porta Vista, Misty definitely took advantage.

Of all of the different hot spots around the destination, one of Misty's favorites was The Seaside Diner. It was a very popular restaurant and one of the oldest on the island. In addition, her parents were good friends with the owners.

For their latest vacation to the island, the twins had asked to go to the diner first thing. They were only 3, and were finally starting to remember things they had done there in the past. The Seaside Diner seemed to stand out as one of their favorite memories, and it was quite possibly what they were looking forward to the most.

Of course, Ash was down for anything that had to do with food, so he was fully supportive of the request. The diner also had one of his (and Pikachu's…) favorite burgers in the world, so his "support" was actually unbridled enthusiasm that if not equal to the twins' exceeded theirs.

The owners of the diner were an older couple, just a bit older than Misty's parents. They were always excited whenever Misty brought her family over for a meal and always doted on them, especially the twins. Misty, of course, couldn't blame them. In her opinion, the twins were just the cutest kids on the face of the Earth, and it was impossible not to fawn over them.

"Look at how big they've gotten!" Darya, the wife, marveled.

"It's a little scary," Misty laughed. "I almost wish I could make them stop!"

"Almost?" Ash teased. "You wish for that every single day!"

Darya giggled, while Misty shot her husband a playful glare. "I can't help it that I like them being cute and tiny! They're so precious!"

"They'll still be precious when they get bigger," Darya replied, smiling at the twins as they busily colored on paper placemats with the crayons she had given them.

"Yeah, and they'll find more ways to push our buttons," Ash chuckled.

"Those two? Causing trouble?" Darya gasped. "I don't believe that's possible."

"Oh, it's possible," Misty sighed, a smirk playing on her lips. "Hard to believe, but Ash and I don't have the most flawless behavioral genes."

"She's being dramatic," Ash scoffed. "Aiden and Michelle are much better behaved than I was a kid! At least, I think they are."

"I believe I had a request for two cups of apple juice over here?"

Aiden and Michelle looked up from their drawings with huge smiles on their faces. An older man, Darya's husband, had walked up to the table with a lidded cup in each hand.

"Thank you, Kaito," Misty said to the newcomer. "Aiden, Michelle, what do you say?"

"-ank you!" They both chirped, grabbing onto the cups and sipping through the straws.

"You're very welcome," Kaito chuckled, folding his arms over his chest. "And how very polite you both are! That's so nice."

Pikachu was sitting quietly between the twins on their side of the table, choosing to rest until the food came. It had been a long morning of playing at the beach, and the smell of food combined with the sunlight coming through the large windows made it the perfect opportunity for the tired little mouse to take a quick break. The sunlight soon caused something to begin sparkling, however, and that was enough to capture Pikachu's attention. He suddenly perked his ears and began looking around the restaurant, trying to find the source of the glint. Pikachu's yellow fur brushed up against the arms of the twins, causing them to giggle and turn their attention away from their juice.

"Silly Pik-chu!" Aiden laughed.

Ash hummed and raised an eyebrow. "What's up, Pikachu? You see something?"

Without any other warning, Pikachu scurried over Michelle's lap and jumped onto the floor, pointing one of his paws behind him.

"Pi-ka-chu!" Pikachu squeaked.

"You want to show me?" Ash asked. Pikachu nodded his head, and Ash got up from his seat, allowing Pikachu to climb up to his shoulder. He walked in the direction Pikachu had been pointing in just before, finding himself at a glass display case that was full of trophies, badges, and photos.

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu marveled.

"Whoa," Ash breathed, bending at the knees to examine the objects inside the case. "Kaito, Darya, what is all of this?"

"You've never seen it before?"

Ash looked over his shoulder, watching as Misty sauntered over to him. "No. Has it always been here?"

Misty smirked. "Yes, Ash, it's always been here. You're just always so focused on eating when we come here that I guess you've never noticed it!"

Ash blushed and glanced back into the case. "Still, what is all this stuff? It looks like it came from some kind of tournament."

"It did!" Kaito confirmed. "Back in the day, Porta Vista wasn't quite as big of a vacation spot as it is now. It always was one, but on a much smaller scale. When that was the case, trainers from all different regions would come here to train with their Pokémon since the weather was always warm!"

"The businesses here actually made more money from visiting trainers than vacationers," Darya added. "That's when it was decided that Porta Vista should host a big annual tournament for those visiting trainers!"

"I never knew that," Ash breathed.

"Darya and I actually met at that tournament," Kaito chuckled. "I'd have to say it was love at first sight. Fond memories!"

"That's so sweet!" Misty gushed. "So this whole case must remind you of when you first met, right?"

"Right!" Darya confirmed, nodding her head. "You met Ash when you two were young trainers as well, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but it definitely wasn't as sweet as you two," Misty sighed, memories of her bike being stolen and destroyed flooding her head.

"So does that mean these trophies are yours?" Ash asked, nearly sending Misty face down on the floor.

"Seriously, Ash?!" Misty cried. " _That's_ what you got out of this conversation?!"

"Well…yeah," Ash answered. "Kaito said he and Darya met at the tournament, so that means they were both Pokémon trainers and competed there!"

"Unbelievable," Misty grumbled, smacking a hand against her forehead. "Sometimes I can't believe you're a married man. And I can't believe _I'm_ the person who made you one."

"Yes indeed!" Kaito confirmed. "Two are mine, and two are Darya's. We showed up to that tournament year after year, specifically to try and beat one another! But in the end, we came up even."

"As the years went on, Porta Vista became more of a vacation destination than a training spot," Darya explained. "The tournament wasn't making money like it once was, so the town discontinued it. And although Kaito and I lost the thing that brought us together, we knew that our relationship would stand the test of time."

Misty sighed and pressed a hand against her chest. "That is so romantic!"

"Twophy?"

Misty blinked and looked down at her feet. She had just felt something brush against her calf, and it turned out to be her young son's hand. He had managed to climb off the seat of the booth and ambled over to her, and was now staring up at the glass case full of tournament mementos.

"You want to see the trophies?" Misty asked, Aiden nodding his head in response. She picked up the boy and looked over her shoulder, making sure that Michelle wasn't about to come running over either. She wasn't quite as interested in battle paraphernalia as Aiden just yet, and the fact that she currently had crayons and paper in front of her, her favorite activity, meant she wasn't going to budge. Vaporeon was still curled up on the seat beside the girl, so Misty felt okay with allowing Michelle to stay where she was.

"Twophy!" Aiden repeated, pointing at the case.

"Okay, okay," Misty hushed, carrying him closer to the glass. "See them?"

Aiden pressed his hands against the glass, leaning forward until his nose was touching it. His brown eyes widened as he examined the gold trophy, letting out a soft _ooh_ as he looked. Ash, who had himself resumed checking out the artifacts, turned away from the case and smiled at his son.

"You like that trophy, buddy?" Ash asked.

Aiden glanced up at his father and rapidly nodded his head. "Fow Po-mon, Daddy?"

"Yeah, Kaito won that for winning a big battle!" Ash replied. "You want to win a trophy like that when you get older, champ?"

Aiden quickly nodded his head again. " _Lotsa_ twophies!"

Ash chuckled at his son's excitement. "I'm sure you'll win lots of them! You can do anything if you work hard for it."

Misty smiled and tilted her head. "Aw, there it is!"

"What?" Ash asked, looking side-to-side. "Where's what?"

"The reason I married you," Misty giggled.

Ash smirked and leaned forward to gently kiss Misty's forehead. Darya hummed, catching both Ash and Misty's attention.

"I don't know, Misty," Darya commented. "It certainly seems sweet to me!"

Misty sheepishly smiled and nodded her head. "Yeah. You're right."

Knowing that Misty was now content, Ash pulled away and looked over at Kaito. "You know, if you're interested, I'd love to have a battle!"

Kaito's eyes widened at the suggestion. "Really? A battle with the Pokémon Master?"

"Sure!" Ash laughed. "I'd love to see what you've got! Clearly you're a pretty accomplished trainer yourself."

"Well now, I don't think I'd go so far as to call myself _that,_ " Kaito chuckled. "But I sure you would love to have a battle with you, Ash!"

"Great!" Ash crowed. His stomach suddenly growled quite loudly, causing him to blush. "Uh…but maybe I should have a bite to eat first."

"Pi-ka," Pikachu agreed, nodding his head.

"Not a problem," Darya assured. "One burger coming right up!"

* * *

 **I've always been pretty fascinated by Porta Vista's existence within the anime. Probably because it was involved with some interesting episodes. Either way, I really like to build on that and kind of create my own takes on the place. It's fun!**


	10. Further from Father

**Hey everyone! My apologies for getting this chapter to you all late. I've been so busy with work, dance, vacations, and a new puppy that this one shot ended up falling a bit behind!**

 **As I'm sure you can all guess from the time of year (and the title) this is a Father's Day one shot. I found this one particularly fun to write, so hopefully you all enjoy reading it!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 8 and a half years old**

 **Elizabeth: 2 and a half years old**

* * *

 **Further from Father**

Ash was in an exceptionally cheerful mood today.

One might consider that par for the course. After all, Ash was generally a pretty happy guy. He didn't let much bother him and was pretty go-with-the-flow. Nothing really seemed to take him too off guard, and even if something wasn't _exactly_ going his way, Ash could easily adjust, all with a smile on his face.

The reason for his particularly positive disposition, however, was that Father's Day was quickly approaching. Although Ash loved all holidays, Father's Day was one of his favorites, and it wasn't even because of the gifts! He adored his children and was so proud to be their father. It felt really nice for him to be able to celebrate and fully enjoy a holiday that he had dreaded as a fatherless child.

He bounded down the stairs that morning, his eyes sparkling as soon as he saw his family gathered around the breakfast table.

"Morning, guys!" Ash greeted.

"Morning!" Michelle returned. Both Aiden and Elizabeth were too busy stuffing their faces and hadn't actually responded.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu chimed in. He too had been eating, but was happy to take a quick break in order to greet his trainer.

Misty, on the other hand, just smirked at her husband. "Finally made it downstairs, I see."

"Yeah!" Ash chuckled. "I'm so ready to eat!"

He sat down next to Aiden and ruffled the boy's hair. When Aiden once again didn't respond, Ash raised an eyebrow and took a closer look, realizing that Aiden was tearing through his breakfast even faster than usual.

"Going a little crazy there, aren't ya champ?" Ash questioned.

Aiden swallowed his latest bite of food and quickly shook his head. "Nah, I just have to finish up quick!"

"Quick?" Ash repeated. "Why, you have a hot date somewhere?"

Aiden's face flashed red, while his sisters giggled. "No! I'm meeting Brandon after breakfast so we can practice together."

"They have that big playoff game next weekend," Misty reminded her husband. "So they're pretty nervous."

"We're not nervous!" Aiden cried. "We can beat them easy!"

"I believe you," Misty giggled. "I think you can too!"

Ash, however, looked somewhat disappointed. "I thought you were going to practice with me for the big game!"

"Oh, yeah," Aiden murmured. "Sorry, Dad, I forgot!"

Though he was still let down, Ash managed to put a smile on his face and give his son a nod. "It's okay, it happens!"

Aiden finished off the last of his breakfast and hopped out of his seat. "I'm going to meet Brandon now! See you guys later!"

"Aiden, put your plate in the sink before you go," Misty called just as the boy was about to run off. He halted and let out a huff, but still turned around and retrieved his dish to put away. "Thank you!"

"Yep!" Aiden called over his shoulder as he scurried out of the kitchen.

Misty sighed and pushed her fork around her plate. "That boy is always in such a rush."

"Yeah, even more than usual," Ash murmured. "But hey, at least our girls want to hang out with us!"

Michelle sheepishly looked down at her plate. "Actually, Selena and I were going to go to Cerulean Park and draw."

Ash sucked in a breath as Michelle stood up, gathering her own plate to place in the sink. She spun back around and smiled more confidently at her father, adding, "but we can do something fun later! Whatever you want, Daddy!"

Ash, however, still seemed in shock as Michelle skirted away. Misty noticed this but kept it to herself, taking a small sip of her coffee before putting the mug down and smiling at her youngest daughter. "Well, it's just you and us now, Lizzie! Right, Daddy?"

The Pokémon Master quickly brought himself back to reality, beaming at the little girl. "That's right! Is there anything fun you'd like to do today, pumpkin?"

"I wanna dance!" Elizabeth chirped.

"But you don't have dance class today, sweetie," Misty replied.

"That's fine!" Ash chuckled. "I could dance with her! Lizzie's much better than I am, but…I can try my best!"

"No, Daddy!"

Ash blinked and looked down at the toddler. "No?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "Myse-f!"

"Oh, you want to dance on your own?" Ash asked, deflating.

Elizabeth nodded her head and slid off of her chair, standing on her tippy toes so she could grab her plate and carry it over to the sink…which she could also barely reach. The little girl just managed to perch the plate on the edge of the sink, and apparently that was good enough for her, because she left it there and bustled away with a big smile on her face.

"And that one thinks she can roll like the big kids," Misty snickered, getting up to properly put the plate in the sink. "A true youngest sibling."

"Gary was right."

Misty raised an eyebrow and glanced over her shoulder. "What?"

"Gary was right," Ash repeated. "He told me the kids were going to grow up and want nothing to do with me."

Misty scoffed and turned back towards the sink. "Gary is an idiot."

"Yeah, but a _right_ one!" Ash cried.

"Ash, our kids _adore_ you," Misty stressed. "They would never want nothing to do with you. But it's perfectly normal for them to want some space from time to time!"

"Really?" Ash deadpanned. "Even the one who isn't even 3 yet?"

"Elizabeth isn't like most kids her age," Misty refuted.

"How is she not like most kids her age?!" Ash howled. "She loves pink and princesses and ballerinas! She thinks her stuffed Pokémon are living creatures! She's _obsessed_ with tea parties! But she's too cool to hang out with me all of a sudden?"

Misty blinked hard before sighing. "Relax, sweetheart. _None_ of the kids think they're 'too cool' for you. That's just silly."

Ash grunted before muttering, "Aiden's a lot cooler than I was at that age."

Misty dramatically rolled her eyes as she walked back towards the table. "You're talking about an 8 year old boy."

"Okay, so he's a cool 8 year old boy!" Ash fired back.

"I highly doubt you were some giant nerd as a kid," Misty challenged, retaking her seat. "And don't bother telling me you were because _Gary_ said so. I already told you he's an idiot."

"We were friends back then, you know," Ash reminded her.

"Yeah, and you're friends now," Misty replied. "He and I are friends too. But that doesn't make him any less of an idiot."

Ash shook his head before resting in his hand. "I just wish I knew why the kids don't want to hang out with me."

"I already told you, they just want some time to themselves," Misty groaned. "There doesn't have to be some big conspiracy theory behind it."

Ash let out another sad sigh. Pikachu, who by now had finished his breakfast, scurried up his trainer's chair to perch himself on the man's shoulder and comfortingly rub himself against Ash's cheek. This brought a reluctant smile to the Pokémon Master's face, who reached up to scratch Pikachu between the ears.

"Looks like Pikachu is more than happy to spend some time with you!" Misty giggled.

"You really know how to cheer me up, buddy," Ash chuckled. "Thanks! I appreciate it!"

Pikachu mumbled happily as Ash continued to scratch his head.

"You know, you should be grateful for some alone time too!" Misty suggested. "The kids are usually all over us, to the point where we barely have a second to breathe. So them becoming a bit more independent is actually a pretty good thing!"

"I guess," Ash grumbled. "It just feels weird."

"That's because they're usually following us around like little Ducklett," Misty giggled. "Why don't you take advantage of this? Father's Day is tomorrow, after all. A little head start sounds like a good idea to me!"

Ash twisted his mouth. He really wasn't one for relaxing. Sure, he loved a good nap when he was especially tired, but just lying around doing nothing wasn't exactly his idea of fun. It was why he loved that the kids had so much energy. Playing and running around after them was way more appealing to him than just lounging around. But they were all busy on their own for the day…

"Yeah, sure," Ash replied, smiling weakly. "I'll give it a shot."

Misty watched as he got up from his chair and headed outside to the backyard. Once he'd closed the door behind him, Misty sighed and picked up her cup of coffee.

"I give it 5 minutes before he does something stupid."

 **XXX**

There was a hammock in the backyard. Misty had bought it because she wanted to use it as a place for her to lay in and relax outside. Ash usually swung on it with the kids (getting scolded by Misty in the process) but since he was alone, save for Pikachu, he decided to try and lay in it like Misty normally did.

And _man_ was it boring!

"How does she do this?" Ash grumbled.

Pikachu, who had curled up by the side of his trainer's head, had no problem dozing off. He was way more passionate about lazing about than Ash was. Sighing, Ash turned his head and looked over at the house.

"This isn't my idea of fun," Ash groaned. "I like being trailed by the kids! Most of the time, anyway."

He started to think, and after a little while, he got an idea. Sitting up straight, Ash caused the hammock to rock back and forth, roughly waking Pikachu up from his shallow slumber.

"Pi-ka?" Pikachu groaned.

"Buddy, I just got an idea!" Ash cheered.

"Kachu pika?" Pikachu muttered.

"I think it's a great idea," Ash gloated. "And once it works, the kids and I will be hanging out again no problem!"

 **XXX**

"Wow, Aiden! That was a great hit!"

The young boy snickered and puffed his chest out. "Thanks! If I can keep hitting like that, we'll take the Nidoking down!"

Brandon excitedly nodded his head in agreement, but quickly stopped when he looked over his best friend's shoulder. "Um, Aiden, why is your dad coming over?"

"Huh?"

Aiden spun around and as soon as he saw his father, his eyes widened. "Dad?!"

"Hey buddy!" Ash greeted.

"What are you doing here?!" Aiden hissed.

"I figured I'd help you and Brandon practice for that big game," Ash replied.

"Um…why?" Aiden squeaked.

"Because I know how important this is to you guys," Ash replied. "Besides, I love spending time with my champ!"

Aiden's face flashed red at the nickname. "That's…really cool of you, Dad. But Brandon and I _really_ wanted to practice on our own! You know, to show our coaches how responsible we can be. It's kind of important to us."

"Oh," Ash breathed, straightening himself out. "I didn't realize how important it was to you guys. Or that you were trying to look so responsible."

Aiden beamed and nodded his head, clearly proud of the fact.

"Well, that's understandable!" Ash continued. "And I don't want to bother you two while you're in the middle of practicing. So…I'll see you later!"

"Thanks, Dad!" Aiden crowed, picking up the ball at his feet and running back towards Brandon.

 **XXX**

After leaving the baseball field, Ash made his way over to Cerulean Park. Although the park was big, he knew exactly where to find Michelle and Selena: by the big lake in the middle of the park. And sure enough, the two young girls were there, just a few feet away from the edge of the water and both with a sketchbook laid out in front of them. Ash grinned to himself and started walking over to the girls, neither of them looking away from their work.

"Hey, Shelly!"

Michelle jumped, the colored pencil in her hand sliding erratically across the open page in her sketchbook. "Oh no!"

"What are you two drawing?" Ash asked, looking out towards the lake. "Water Pokémon?"

"Uh huh!" Selena replied, unaware of her friend's anguish. "There's some Goldeen that like to jump out of the lake!"

"Wow, that's really cool!" Ash chuckled. "How's it going?"

"It was good until you scared me," Michelle grumbled. "Now I messed mine up!"

"I scared you?" Ash questioned, pointing at himself.

"Well yeah, you came out of nowhere," Michelle sighed. "How come you're at the park?"

Ash started to sweat. He wasn't going to outright tell his daughter he had come there looking for her! "Oh, I…just decided I felt like going for a walk. And everyone knows the park is the best place to go for one! Right, Pikachu?"

The unimpressed mouse sitting on his shoulder narrowed his beady eyes as he muttered, "pi, Pikapi…"

Michelle seemed to think about this for a moment before smiling at him. "That makes sense! The park definitely is pretty!"

Ash laughed, glad that Michelle hadn't caught onto him. "Yep!"

"Have fun on your walk," Michelle beckoned. "I'll see you later!"

And just like that, Ash's confidence was pretty much shot. Michelle had believed him, but now with that story, he couldn't really hang around.

"I'm going to show you my drawing when I come home," Michelle continued, regaining her father's attention. "I don't want to show you before it's finished! I want it to be a surprise!"

Ash perked back up and grinned at Michelle. "Okay! I can't wait to see it!"

 **XXX**

As soon as Ash arrived back home, he headed upstairs to Elizabeth's room. From behind the half-closed door, he could hear the little girl jumping around, as evidenced by the soft yet constant _thuds._ He gently pushed open the door and found Elizabeth running back and forth, having pulled a fluffy pink tutu over the outfit Misty had put her in for the day.

"Don't you look so pretty?" Ash crooned.

Elizabeth whipped around and frowned at her father. "Daddy…"

Ash chuckled at his young daughter's little whine. "I just wanted to watch you dance for a little bit! I know you said you wanted to dance by yourself, but I really like watching you!"

Elizabeth didn't look placated by that explanation. She marched over to the corner of her room, throwing herself down into a pile of stuffed Pokémon and lying there rather dejectedly.

"You really don't want me to watch you, huh?" Ash asked. Elizabeth picked her head up and shook it. "Well…I guess that's fair. I'll leave you alone then!"

He turned around and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Elizabeth sat up in her sea of toys, staring at the now closed door with wide emerald eyes. On the other side, Ash continued facing the door, a small smile playing on his lips.

"How'd I know you were going to get yourself all involved?"

The Pokémon Master looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. "What's that mean?"

"You just walked out of Elizabeth's room," Misty replied, pointing at the closed door for emphasis. "You were trying to watch her dance, weren't you?"

Ash shrugged his shoulders. "I figured I'd ask."

"Right," Misty drawled. "Meanwhile, I thought you were going out to the backyard before to relax. I went to check on you 10 minutes later and you were gone. You went off to see Aiden and Michelle, didn't you?"

"Maybe…" Ash hummed.

Misty groaned and tilted her head. "Ash, I already told you the kids wanting to be on their own for a little while is nothing against you!"

"I know, you're right!" Ash cried.

Misty put her head back upright and blinked hard. "What?"

"You're right," Ash repeated. "About all of it. I did go to see Aiden and Michelle…because I wanted to hang out with them. But you're also right that it was for good reasons! Aiden just wanted him and Brandon to practice on their own to show their coaches that they're responsible. And Michelle wanted to draw on her own because she wanted to surprise me with the finished picture!"

"Aw, those two are so sweet," Misty crooned. "And what about Elizabeth? How come she didn't want you to watch her dance?"

"Oh, she really didn't have a reason…" Ash mused. "She just didn't feel like showing off today."

"Yep, a true youngest kid," Misty snickered, repeating her earlier statement.

"But that's okay," Ash declared. "Because she might change her mind later! Or tomorrow. Whenever. But I think I understand the whole thing a lot better now."

"I'm glad," Misty replied, smiling sweetly at her husband. "You're a great dad, Ash. Everyone knows it! But no one knows it better than our kids."

Ash smiled and nodded his head. The door behind him suddenly reopened, and Elizabeth poked her head through, gazing up at her parents. Misty noticed the little girl first and started to giggle, peaking Ash's interest.

"Why hello there, little girl!" Misty greeted. "You spying on us?"

Elizabeth shook her head. Ash turned around and locked eyes with the child, causing her to smile.

"Daddy!" Elizabeth squeaked, reaching up towards the man. "Watch me!"

Ash blinked his eyes. Then his smile widened, and he happily took Elizabeth's hand into his own. "I'd love to watch you dance, Lizzie! Thanks for the invitation!"

Elizabeth giggled and started to try and drag him back into her room. "Come Daddy!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Ash laughed. "Trust me, Lizzie, I wouldn't miss this for the world!"

* * *

 **Even as an adult, I imagine Ash would have boundless energy, so following the kids around and playing with them would likely be one of his favorite things to do.**


	11. Standard Questions

**Hellooo everyone! Sorry for going MIA again...I was on another vacation for a bit. But now I'm back, and I'm ready to upload more stories!**

 **I got the idea for this one after seeing an article online about stupid questions people ask about twins. All I could think of was what Misty's thoughts/reactions to those questions would be...and I thought they'd be pretty entertaining.**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 16 months old**

* * *

 **Standard Questions**

"You must have your hands full!"

Misty resisted the _very_ strong urge to roll her eyes. Instead, she just smiled back at the woman who had managed that comment with a little giggle, as though it were _so_ original.

"Yeah," Misty drawled, keeping that fake smile plastered on. "Just a bit."

Perhaps surprisingly, there were people who weren't super invested in the world of Pokémon battling and the like. Very similar to people who weren't big sports fans. This woman was one of them. Misty may have been a gym leader, but to this random woman at a café in Cerulean City, she was just another woman. Misty didn't mind not being recognized. In fact, she more often than not _enjoyed_ the anonymity whenever she happened upon it.

In cases like this, however, when someone who had no idea who she was and simply saw her with her little twins, Misty didn't appreciate the inconspicuousness quite as much. Because all this woman was seeing was another random woman with two kids of the same age, and that opened the door for all the comments and questions that Misty had heard countless other times and was, quite frankly, tired of.

"Which one's the older one?" The woman asked, switching her gaze between the two toddlers.

"He is," Misty replied, gently patting Aiden's head. The boy was too preoccupied with his snack, however, and didn't bother to look up.

The woman smiled at the little boy. "Do they speak in their own little language to each other?"

"Kind of, I think," Misty answered, shrugging her shoulders. "They can't say much yet, so a lot of it all sounds the same."

"Do they get along?" The woman questioned.

"For the most part," Misty sighed. "They're like any other siblings. They fight sometimes."

"Do twins run in your family?"

Misty leaned back in her chair, surprised by how quickly this woman managed to fire off her questions. "No…"

"Were you surprised when you found out?"

"Yeah, very…"

"Oh, they're just so cute!" The woman squealed, causing Misty to wince. "I miss when mine were that little. Of course, I never had two at once. I can't imagine it!"

Misty sat up straight and furrowed her brow. "Right…"

"It was nice meeting you," the woman said, giving Misty a small bow. "Good luck!"

Misty let out a quiet huff as the woman strolled away, muttering to herself, "I don't need luck."

One of the twins cooed, leading Misty to raise an eyebrow. She turned her head to look at the children, who had both halted their snacking and were now gazing at her.

"Hey, Mommy was very good," Misty commented, grabbing onto the stroller and slowly spinning it so the twins were directly facing her. "I didn't interrupt or say anything bad!"

Aiden and Michelle both beamed as their mother spoke to them. In turn, Misty's face softened, and she giggled softly.

"Everybody thinks they know everything," Misty practically whispered to the toddlers. "They just ask and say whatever they want. Isn't that silly?"

Both twins giggled, causing Misty's smile to widen. She knew they had no idea what she was saying, but it still felt like they were on her side, and that was good enough for Misty.

"Those people just don't realize how lucky I am," Misty continued. "Instead of one super cute baby, I have two! And I love you both very much."

"Mama!" Aiden squealed, tossing his squeezable banana pouch to the ground. Misty sighed and leaned over, picking the pouch up and raising her eyebrows.

"You finished this whole thing already?" Misty questioned.

Aiden nodded his head as he let out another delighted giggle, sticking one finger in his smiling mouth.

"Well, I'm glad you liked it!" Misty giggled, getting up to toss the empty pouch into a nearby garbage can. "What about you, Shelly? Do you like it too?"

Michelle nodded her head, keeping the pouch in her mouth.

"I think it's time we started heading home," Misty decided, grabbing onto the handle of the twins' stroller. "Before someone else starts asking me all those ridiculous questions…"

Misty started to push the stroller down the sidewalk, still smiling to herself as the twins continued to babble nonsense. She just loved it when they were so happy! Not only was it absolutely adorable, but it made her life a whole lot easier too. Happy babies were much easier to care for than cranky ones!

"Oh, are they twins?!"

And almost as soon as she'd started to make her escape, Misty was stopped dead in her tracks by another nosy passerby. She grimaced the moment she realized this new woman was switching her awed gaze between herself and the twins…yet another one who didn't care about battling and didn't recognize her.

 _What, did they just have a meeting or something? They're all over the place today!_

"Yeah, they are," Misty replied, trying to keep her voice level.

"Aw, they're so adorable!" The new woman crooned, bending down to get a better look at the two. Aiden and Michelle stared back at her like she was insane, which the woman didn't seem to process. "Are they a boy and a girl?"

If it had been socially acceptable, Misty would've smacked her own face in response to _that_ brilliant question. Aside from their outfits which Misty had thought were pretty telling (yeah, Michelle's was half blue, but it was also adorned with glittery water type Pokémon… _and_ she was wearing pink shorts…), Michelle's hair _was_ longer than Aiden's at this point. Enough so that it was currently fastened into a set of pigtails.

"Yeah, they are," Misty repeated.

The woman continued to look between Aiden and Michelle, her smile somehow widening. "Which one is the good one?"

Misty nearly fell over. The _good one?!_ Now this was an asinine question she'd never actually heard before! She was almost impressed by the woman's tenacity, and stupidity, to ask it.

"They're both good," Misty huffed, irritated that anyone would even insinuate one of her children was better than the other.

"Oh, no, I meant behavior wise!" The woman exclaimed. "Like…which one is better behaved?"

Misty squeezed the bridge of her nose. She had understood the question the first time. And she had answered it. "They're literally the same. They both have their moments. Sometimes they're happy at the same time, or grouchy at the same time, or one is behaving well and the other isn't. Just like any other siblings."

The woman nodded her head. "Wow, I wouldn't have guessed. That's so interesting!"

Misty clenched her jaw. Her patience was wearing _very_ thin, and she knew she'd have to remove herself from the situation to completely avoid blowing up.

"Yeah, you learn something new every day," Misty quipped. "Anyway, we should be on our way! I have to put these two down for their naps."

"They even nap at the same time?" The woman breathed.

Aiden and Michelle tilted their heads back to glance up at their mother. Similar to before, when she was speaking to them, they had no idea what this woman was saying. The look they were giving Misty, however, was one of near utter confusion, and it took everything in Misty's power to keep herself from bursting out laughing.

"Yeah, they do," Misty snickered just once. "Let's go, you two!"

She gave a nod to the woman before skirting past her, letting out a sigh of relief as soon as she was out of earshot. The twins were still staring up at her, so Misty smirked and asked, "is it just me, or are these questions getting dumber?"

Aiden and Michelle both giggled again; still not understanding their mother, just enjoying the sound of her voice. Misty smiled and stood up straight, continuing to push the twins' stroller.

"I'm thinking we should hide out in the house for the rest of the day," Misty decided. "Or maybe for the rest of our lives…"

She pushed the two all the way home, feeling relieved when she finally got to open the front door and let the twins inside the house. They had been exceptionally well behaved and relatively quiet all morning, and had apparently reached their limit. As soon as their feet hit the ground, they both shrieked and began running around the living room.

"Still better than all those stupid questions," Misty sighed, smiling as she watched Aiden and Michelle dart around. She was about to close the door behind her, but was met with resistance. Narrowing her eyes, Misty glanced over her shoulder and gasped, nearly jumping out of her skin. "Ash?!"

The Pokemon Master showed off his signature cheeky smile, unaffected by the fact that he'd just startled his wife. "Hey, Mist! Funny seeing you here!"

"What are you doing home?" Misty questioned, skipping his little joke.

"Ah, work was real slow today," Ash replied with a wave of his hand. "We did a whole bunch of training this morning, and there was no paperwork to do afterwards, so I just decided to call it a day."

Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and into Misty's arms, chattering happily as he rubbed himself against her chest. Misty giggled and scratched the mouse between his ears.

"I'm happy to see you too, Pikachu!" Misty crooned.

"To be honest, I'm kind of surprised _you guys_ are home already."

Misty looked up at her husband, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

Ash shrugged. "You just made it sound like you had a bunch of stuff to do this morning. And it's such a beautiful day, I thought by now you'd still be out with the kids."

"Oh, yeah," Misty drawled. "Well, I think I just wanted to head home. The twins seemed to be getting sleepy, so…"

Ash looked past Misty as she trailed off. "They don't seem very sleepy to me."

Misty turned around and found that Aiden and Michelle were still running around like little crazy people, stopping in the middle of the room to grab each other's hands and spin around in circles.

"Fine," Misty grumbled. "They're not. People just kept asking me dumb questions about them and I couldn't take it anymore."

Ash chuckled lovingly. "Yeah, we get some good ones, don't we?"

Misty furrowed her brow. "You mean people ask you stuff like that too?"

"For sure," Ash responded. "Weird stuff too. Like…sutff even _I_ would never ask anyone! Someone asked me once if we tried to have two of them at once. Like we had any control over it!"

"That's so gross," Misty whined. "It's none of their business!"

"Nope," Ash agreed. "I don't think they try and do it to be obnoxious, though. I just think people are really fascinated by twins is all! They _are_ pretty cool."

"They are," Misty agreed. "But that still doesn't mean they should ask all those questions. I mean, they're really stupid questions, but they're also such a waste of time!"

"Don't stress so much about it," Ash chuckled, stepping into the house. "Like you said, it's stupid!"

Misty furrowed her brow once again. "Hey, I'm not stressed about it!"

Ash, however, only had eyes for Aiden and Michelle. As soon as he walked into the living room, they both squealed and ran for him. Ash laughed and knelt down, easily gathering them in his arms despite their persistent wiggling.

"You two are so cute!" Ash laughed. "Everyone else just _wishes_ they could have you! But they're not as lucky as me and Mommy, huh?"

The twins continued giggling, Misty watching on with a smile.

"Pikachu, Pikachupi?"

Misty looked down at Pikachu and giggled sweetly. "Yeah, they're totally worth it."

* * *

 **I have to imagine there'd be people in the Pokémon world not actually interested in the culture of Pokémon battling. I do think of them a lot like sports, so it makes sense to me!**


	12. A Beachy Birthday

**Hello everyone! It's July 12th, which is my personal headcanon for Misty's birthday! So, of course, she needed her birthday one shot! It's not exactly what I was planning, but it still came out pretty cute and fluffy! So, please enjoy!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 9 and a half years old**

 **Elizabeth: 3 and a half years old**

* * *

 **A Beachy Birthday**

"One…two…three…four! There's four shells, Mommy!"

Misty giggled, gently tilting her head to the side. "Yes, there are! Good job, Lizzie!"

"Four's my fav-ite number," Elizabeth informed her mother.

"It is?" Misty questioned playfully. Elizabeth seemed to have a different favorite number every day, and for all different reasons. Apparently, today it was four. "How come?"

"I'm gonna be four!" Elizabeth cheered, holding her arms up above her head.

"Yes you are!" Misty replied. "In just a few weeks! Your birthday is very close to Mommy's."

"Mommy's birfday is today?" Elizabeth asked.

"Uh huh," Misty confirmed. "That's why we came here to be with Grandma and Grandpa and everyone else, right?"

Elizabeth nodded her head, now more preoccupied with placing her four seashells in her pink plastic bucket. "Mommy, are you four?"

Misty laughed at the question. "No, I'm quite a bit older than that!"

"Are you five?"

"No, not five either."

Elizabeth looked up from her bucket and frowned. "I don't know how many, Mommy."

"It's okay, baby," Misty assured her young daughter with a light giggle. "I'm 31."

Elizabeth twisted her mouth as she tried to process the number in her mind. "Thi-ty one?"

"Yeah, close," Misty snickered. "Except there's an 'r' in there. So… _thirty_."

"Arrr," Elizabeth growled, doing her best impersonation of a pirate.

"Sure, we can say it like that," Misty laughed. "It's definitely a lot more fun!"

Elizabeth beamed as she grabbed the handle of her bucket, getting to her feet. "I wanna look for more shells, Mommy!"

"More?" Misty tried not to groan. "But you have so many already! That bucket is going to be awfully heavy, little girl."

Grimacing, Elizabeth tried to pull the bucket alongside her. She managed to move it a few inches, sand building up along its edges. That was about as far as she could get it, although she certainly wasn't about to stop trying. Elizabeth continued to tug at the bucket, even as it remained stubbornly in place, and Misty soon began to worry that the handle would snap off and the little girl would go flying.

"Let me carry it, sprinkle," Misty quickly offered, gently prying the handle out of the child's hand. In reality, it wasn't all that heavy; Misty had no problem picking it right up off the ground. But for a nearly 4 year old, it was _definitely_ way too much.

When Misty had suggested they sneak away from her parents' vacation home in favor of the beach for a little while, she hadn't been expecting to be searching for seashells and lugging them around on the sand for a majority of the outing. Then again, she supposed there were far worse things she could be doing on her birthday. She adored all three of her children and would do absolutely anything for them. That included dragging a bucket full of seashells on the beach…on her birthday.

"Should we go see what Daddy and Aiden and Michelle are up to?" Misty asked her young daughter. "You could show them all the seashells you got!"

"Uh huh!" Elizabeth chirped.

The two headed towards the other members of their family, settled on a colorful collection of sprawled out blankets and towels. A tray full of food was placed right in the middle of it all, and that got Elizabeth jumping up and down right away. Misty, on the other hand, was not as impressed with the spread.

"Really?" She droned, Ash lifting his head up to look at her. "The first thing you do when Elizabeth and I walk away is buy food?"

"Yeah, me and the twins were starving!" Ash cried.

"We didn't eat breakfast that long ago," Misty murmured. "And you know my mom is making a huge dinner for all of us!"

"But that's no excuse to skip lunch," Ash practically whined. "I mean look, we got lots of stuff to share! Hot dogs, burgers, fries…"

"Right, the quintessential beach lunch," Misty snickered, sitting down beside her husband. Elizabeth had already thrown herself on the blanket and was picking fries out of one of the baskets, gingerly but excitedly eating them. Aiden and Michelle were sitting nearby on their own towels, having already commandeered their own food. "I'm not going to be the one who deals with my mother when those kids aren't ready for dinner."

"Have you ever met our kids?" Ash snickered. "They'll be ready for dinner. Guaranteed."

Misty said nothing in return as she reached for her own fry. Ash quickly became bored of the silence and decided to break it up by asking, "So what did you and Elizabeth do while the twins and I were getting the food?"

"Elizabeth decided she wanted to look for seashells," Misty replied.

"Oh, just like Michelle when she was little," Ash chuckled. "Did she find any?"

Misty grabbed the bucket and tilted it towards Ash, who peered in. As soon as he saw it was full of seashells, he chuckled and leaned back, smirking at his wife. "Plenty, huh?"

"And then she tried to drag the thing back here on her own," Misty sighed. "It weighs twice as much as she does!"

"Ah, she's just determined is all!" Ash scoffed.

"I love her, but sometimes I think she's going to be the death of me," Misty grumbled. "And that honor used to belong to you."

"Thanks," Ash teased, winking at her. Misty simply rolled her eyes in response. "Hey, at least she's keeping you feeling young on your birthday!"

"Young?!" Misty repeated incredulously. "I feel _ancient_."

Ash twisted his mouth and turned to look at the kids. Aiden and Michelle had already finished their lunches, and Elizabeth was closer to being done with hers than not.

"Hey, why don't you guys head down to the water for a bit," Ash suggested, pointing towards the ocean. "I bet Pikachu and Vaporeon would love to go with you too!"

The two Pokémon and Elizabeth began to cheer excitedly. Aiden and Michelle, however, looked somewhat suspicious of their father's proposal. They both leaned in closer to him, causing the man to furrow his brow.

"What?" Ash deadpanned.

"You're trying to get rid of us," Michelle replied point blank.

"What?!" Ash repeated, this time much more frantically. "No I'm-"

"Come on, we're not stupid," Aiden whined. "You always do this when you want to be alone with Mom!"

"Just cause Lizzie is too little to realize it yet doesn't mean we are," Michelle added.

Ash sighed and hung his head, unaware that Misty was carefully watching and listening to the conversation from behind. "So let me guess…you're not going to go."

"We'll go!" Michelle chirped.

"We just need something from you if we do," Aiden chimed in.

Ash picked his head up, his eyes set wide. "Are you two blackmailing me?"

"That's such an ugly word," Michelle refuted, playfully pouting. "I think it's more like…collaborative!"

"Fine," Ash grumbled. "What is it you two are looking for?"

Aiden and Michelle glanced at one another before Aiden replied, "we want to stay up past our bedtime to watch the World Tournament Junior Cup on TV."

"From Unova?" Ash breathed. "That's going to be so late! Can't you guys just record it and watch it tomorrow?"

"No, cause then we'll find out what happens!" Aiden cried. "The internet exists now."

Ash narrowed his eyes. "You know it existed when I was a kid too, right?"

Aiden was about to respond, but Michelle reached her hand out to cover his mouth. "That's okay. We don't _have_ to go down to the ocean. We can all just hang out here together!"

Ash sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose. "Alright, fine. You can stay up and watch the Junior Cup."

"Thank you!" Michelle chirped, removing her hand from over Aiden's mouth. "Come on, guys! Let's head down to the water!"

Elizabeth didn't have to be told twice. She jumped to her feet and began running towards the ocean, Pikachu and Vaporeon trailing closely behind. Aiden and Michelle were soon running after them as well, leaving behind a sulking Ash and, unbeknownst to him, a smirking Misty.

"Why do you like bribing our kids so much?"

Ash jumped and whipped his head around. "Hey, I wasn't trying to! They were the ones who started it!"

Misty rolled her eyes, but supplemented it with a giggle. "Sure, Ash. Blame the 9 year olds."

The Pokémon Master shrugged, rolling over to face her. "Hey, I got what I wanted."

Misty giggled softly and bent her head down towards his. "But it's my birthday. What about what _I_ want?"

Ash propped himself up on his shoulders, breaking the intimate moment between him and Misty and causing her to scowl. "What do you want?"

The gym leader hummed and playfully rolled her eyes. "This. I was just messing with you. I want this too."

Snickering, Ash lowered himself back down on the blanket, wrapping an arm around Misty. "Just out of curiosity, what is it that you wanted? Alone time with me or some time without the kids?"

"Oh, the second one. No question."

" _Miiist!_ "

* * *

 **She's teasing, obviously.**

 **It was both.**


	13. What a Chore

**Long time no see! I was trying to decide which one shot to upload next, but I get a lot of requests for stories featuring Ash and Misty without the kids, and I felt like it has been a while since I've done one of those. So I wanted to finish up this one and have it be the next one shot.**

 **Hopefully this one was worth the wait!**

* * *

 **What a Chore**

"Your parents are great."

Misty smirked as she cast Ash a sideways glance. "You're just saying that because they took the kids for the day."

Ash pouted in response. "That's not fair! You know I love those three more than anything in the world!"

"I do," Misty confirmed. "I love them just as much! But we can both admit that a break every once in a while is appreciated."

" _Very_ appreciated," Ash agreed, his smile returning. "So, since we have the house to ourselves today…what do you want to do?"

Misty raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it isn't very often we get time to ourselves," Ash explained. "We could do literally anything!"

"Like what?" Misty prodded.

"Um…anything?" Ash lamely replied.

"You're trying really hard not to say sex, aren't you?" Misty deadpanned. Ash's face flashed red, but he didn't argue, which led Misty to giggle. "I knew it! I know you too well, Ash."

Ash groaned and leaned against the railing of the staircase. "I like to do more with you than just that, you know."

"I do," Misty repeated, nodding her head. "I just know it's one of your _favorites_."

Ash rolled his eyes, but the smile remained on his face. "How about lunch? We could go outside and eat in the backyard, almost like a little picnic?"

"It's a very nice idea, Ash, but I've got a lot of work to do around the house," Misty sighed.

"Work?" Ash groaned, slumping his shoulders.

"Yeah, it's hard to get it all done when the kids are around," Misty continued. "They're always fighting for my attention, or they need help with something…I can barely get anything done."

"But chores are so boring," Ash whined.

Misty smirked. "They're not my idea of a good time either, trust me."

Ash twisted his mouth and started to wrack his brain. A huge smile suddenly reappeared on his face, and he announced, "I'll just help you with them then!"

"You? Helping with chores?" Misty scoffed.

"Hey, I'm the man of this house!" Ash cried, puffing out his chest as he placed his hands on his hips. "I've never turned down any chores!"

"No, you just complain about them," Misty snickered. "Besides, you're not necessarily the best, uh…what's the word I'm looking for? Oh, homemaker."

"Homemaker?" Ash repeated. "I'm not trying to be a homemaker, Mist. I'm just trying to help you out around the house!"

"Right…" Misty sighed, arching an eyebrow. "You think you can handle doing the laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, and changing the sheets?"

"Sounds easy enough to me!" Ash boasted.

Pikachu, who had been watching the couple go back and forth from one of the steps behind Ash, scoffed and rolled his beady little eyes. Misty started to giggle, while Ash looked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes at the unapologetic mouse.

"I did chores growing up, you know," Ash reminded both his wife and partner Pokémon.

" _Some_ chores," Misty corrected. "Delia told me she did most of them and you just helped out with the easier stuff. None of which I just named is the easier stuff, by the way."

"Mom…" Ash groaned, throwing his head back. As Misty laughed again, Ash picked his head up and continued, "I want to try and help, Mist. Seriously. It'll go faster if I do, right?"

Misty hummed before nodding her head. "Definitely faster than if I just do it all on my own."

"Okay, then I'll do my best!" Ash declared, pumping his fist. "What do we start with?"

"The laundry," Misty replied.

"Laundry, huh?" Ash mused. "I did the laundry once when I lived with Professor Kukui in Alola!"

"Yeah, and you flooded the house," Misty quipped. As soon as Ash shot her a look of disbelief, Misty added, "I _do_ talk to a majority of the people who have been part of your life."

"I won't make that mistake again," Ash grumbled.

"Hopefully not," Misty teased. Ash frowned, and Misty quickly reached up to cup his cheek. "I'm sorry, I'm just messing around. I really do appreciate you offering to help me out, Ash. Really!"

Ash smiled and bent his head down to rest his nose against his wife's forehead. "I believe you." Picking his head up, Ash's smile widened to a considerable grin, and he cheered, "Well, let's get to work!"

 **XXX**

Doing the laundry was the first task on Misty's checklist.

Because she didn't trust him to operate the washing machine (his promise to not overload it again wasn't comforting enough), Misty put Ash in charge of folding the clothes she'd already washed.

"It should be easy enough," Misty informed him, pointing at the basket. "Most of the clothes in there belong to Lizzie, so they're smaller."

"You can count on me!" Ash cheered, proudly jamming a finger towards his chest.

"We'll see," Misty hummed, turning to head towards the washing machine.

Behind her, Ash reached into the laundry basket and pulled out one article of clothing: a tiny, flowy white tank top embroidered in black and pink.

"Aw, look how cute!" Ash chuckled. "I always forget how little Lizzie's clothes are. It's adorable!"

Pikachu, who had been watching from a distance, sauntered closer to the basket and began sniffing at its contents. As soon as he picked up the scent, his ears perked and he let out a delighted squeal, standing on his hind legs and burying his face into the pile of clothes.

"You smell her, huh?" Ash asked. He lifted the tank top closer to his face and took a good sniff of it, wrinkling his nose afterwards. "All I smell is laundry detergent. And it's extra flowery."

"Pi-ka," Pikachu replied, picking his head up from the clothes.

"Hey, I got it!" Ash cried. "Pikachu, why don't you help me fold the clothes? That would make it go _twice_ as fast!"

"Chu!" Pikachu trilled. Reaching into the basket with his little front paws, the electric mouse pulled out another top, this one navy blue and printed with little ballerinas in different colored dresses.

Feeling proud of himself for coming up with the idea, Ash began working on attempting to fold the little tank top in his hands. Unfortunately, it was so small that Ash wasn't entirely sure of where to _begin._ He held it up and carefully eyed it, examining the straps all the way down to the hem. Grabbing hold of both straps, he folded the shirt in half, and then in half again the other way. This formed a neat little square, which brought the big grin back to Ash's face.

"Hey Mist, check it out!" Ash called, holding up the folded fabric.

Misty, who had been busy moving clothes from the washing machine to the dryer, looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Wow, nice job, Ash! That looks really good!"

"Thanks," Ash sighed, puffing his chest out. "I knew this couldn't be too hard!"

"Well, you've only folded one shirt so far," Misty reminded him, nodding towards the still-full basket. "Don't get too cocky!"

"Don't worry, I won't," Ash assured her, placing the folded tank top beside the bin. "I'll just build off that confidence!"

As soon as the shirt was out of his grasp, however, it came unraveled in a matter of seconds. Ash let out a strangled cry, which caught Misty's attention. "You alright over there?"

"Uh…yeah, fine!" Ash quickly cried. "Just…choked a little. That's all."

"Choked?" Misty repeated. "On…nothing?"

"No, on my…spit," Ash refuted, cringing afterwards.

Misty furrowed her brow, but chose not to ask any further questions and instead turned back towards the dryer. Ash, on the other hand, let out a quiet sigh of relief before picking the tank top back up.

"Why'd you do that?" Ash whined, making sure to keep his voice low so Misty wouldn't hear him. He folded the shirt the exact same way he had before, and once it was back in its neat square, he placed it back down beside the basket.

Where it promptly unraveled again.

Ash could feel a vein about to pop out of his forehead. When he glanced over at Pikachu, he saw that not only had the mouse folded the navy shirt from before, but he had already folded three more and was onto the fifth.

 _How am I getting beat out at folding clothes by a Pokémon?!_

Retrieving the tank top once again, Ash crumpled it up into a tight ball between his hands. Once he dropped it beside the basket, it remained in its jumbled mess, causing Ash to grin.

 _Now I got it!_

He picked another shirt out of the basket: a light pink t-shirt with a bow at the collar. He balled it up in a similar fashion to the tank top and dropped the sphere of fabric beside the original one, grinning when that one stayed in place as well. Ash began doing that with all of the clothes in the basket, soon out-folding Pikachu and clearing the basket.

"Okay, here are Michelle's-wait, you finished the first basket already?"

Ash looked up at Misty and nodded proudly. "Yep, all done! And it was a total piece of cake!"

Misty hummed and looked over at Pikachu's pile, her eyes lighting up. "Wow, Pikachu! You're really good at that!"

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu squeaked happily.

Misty leaned on her toes to examine Ash's work, but as soon as she saw the messy balls of clothing her face fell. "Ash! What is that?!"

"Elizabeth's clothes," Ash replied with a sense of obviousness.

"You can't fold clothes like that!" Misty cried.

"Why not?" Ash practically whined. "They wouldn't stay any other way!"

"Yeah, sometimes they come undone," Misty sighed. "But you're supposed to fold it again! If you just crumple the clothes up like that they're going to wrinkle."

"Who cares if they're a little wrinkly?" Ash asked. "They're just clothes!"

"Because it messes them up, and then they look bad…" Misty grumbled as she trailed off.

"Okay, I'll just…un-ball them," Ash assured her, picking up one of the shirts and pulling it out of the tight wad he'd made. "And I'll do my best to fold them the right way."

"Maybe for now we should move on to something else," Misty suggested. "I think you should take a break from the clothes, and truthfully, I wouldn't mind getting out of the laundry room for a bit. It's starting to feel too stuffy for my liking."

Ash frowned, but nevertheless backed away from the empty laundry basket. Misty quickly jumped in to unfold the balled up shirts, finishing in a matter of minutes.

"I could've helped with that, you know," Ash muttered.

"I do," Misty replied. "But it was no big deal. Let's just move onto the next chore on my list."

"Which is…?" Ash prodded.

"Cleaning the bathroom," Misty responded, smirking at her husband. "And if you didn't like folding the laundry, I don't think you're going to like this much either."

 **XXX**

"Oh my-"

"I told you."

"Our kids are _disgusting!_ "

"Yeah, I know."

"And that's coming from _me!_ "

"Yeah, I know."

A look of horror remained on Ash's face as he scanned the bathroom that primarily belonged to his and Misty's three children. Their toothbrushes and hairbrushes were spread all over the counter, tubes of open toothpaste intermixed. There were towels on the floor, Elizabeth's bath toys strewn almost everywhere _except_ the wire caddy they belonged in. The garbage can was overflowing, tissues and empty boxes surrounding it.

"Why do they listen to us when we ask them to clean up the rest of the house, but the bathroom looks like a tornado ripped through it?" Ash questioned.

"They create this whole mess in a matter of minutes," Misty sighed. "When I come in here to bathe Elizabeth at night, it's totally spotless. But by the next morning, after all the kids have gotten ready for the day, it looks like this."

"That quick, huh?" Ash muttered.

"I think they consider it a talent," Misty replied with a smirk. She stepped forward and began picking up the discarded towels, tossing them into a nearby hamper. "And to think, these were _so close_ to making it in there…"

Ash stepped further into the bathroom as well and started gathering Elizabeth's bath toys. It didn't take him very long (they were numerous, but they were also small and light) and once he had them all rounded up, he placed them back in the caddy where they belonged.

"Thanks," Misty sighed, standing back up to her full height.

"No problem!" Ash chuckled. "This is already way easier than folding all that laundry."

"Yeah, _that_ was," Misty quipped.

Ash hummed and tilted his head. "What do you mean 'that'? We just have to pick up all the stuff they left lying around, right?"

"We do have to finish that," Misty confirmed. "But we do also have to actually clean the bathroom."

"I thought picking stuff up _was_ cleaning," Ash murmured.

"Part of it. But I'm talking about _actually_ cleaning. Like…heavy duty, down-and-dirty type cleaning."

Before Ash could ask any further questions, Misty skirted towards the toilet. Ash raised an eyebrow, but it quickly hit him what she had meant. "You mean…?"

Misty turned her head towards him and nodded solemnly.

"Ugh," Ash groaned, slumping his shoulders.

"But look, Aiden did us a favor," Misty teasingly commented.

Ash was afraid to ask, but decided to take his chance. "What did he do?"

"He left the seat up," Misty snickered.

Ash rolled his eyes. "You would think our son would have a bit more common sense than that. He shares this bathroom with two sisters, after all. Leaving the seat up like that isn't really fair to them."

"Very true," Misty agreed. "Try and remember that the next time you leave the seat up in _our_ bathroom."

Ash suddenly looked completely offended. "What?! I _never_ leave the seat up!"

"Yes you do!" Misty laughingly argued. "You do it every single day!"

"I do not!"

"Right, so if I go into our bathroom right now, the toilet seat will be down?"

"Probably."

"Probably?!"

"I don't remember what I did the last time I went in there!"

"Which means you probably left the seat up."

"Don't we have to finish cleaning up in here first before we start thinking about the other bathrooms?" Ash pressed, eager to get off the subject of him possibly leaving the toilet seat up.

"Yes, we do," Misty replied, picking up a toilet brush and handing it over to Ash. "Have fun!"

Once again, his eyes nearly fell out of his head. "WHAT?!"

"You said you wanted to help," Misty retorted calmly. "So you can clean the toilet while I start cleaning the bathtub. That takes much longer than the toilet anyway."

Ash grimaced, but still took the brush from his wife. He knelt down by the bowl and took a quick look at it, loudly groaning the moment he laid eyes on it. "Our son also has terrible aim, apparently…"

Misty laughed and shook her head. "Yeah, I figured that out quite a while ago…"

 **XXX**

"That was the worst thing _ever_."

Misty snickered. Ash was leaning against the wall, his eyes wide yet the rest of his face reflecting sheer exhaustion.

"It was only three bathrooms," Misty reasoned with him. "Could you imagine if we lived in a giant mansion or something?"

"No," Ash quickly countered. "I'm just really glad we don't right about now."

"Well, the good news is we're almost finished," Misty continued. "All that's left is changing the sheets on everybody's beds."

"Ugh, there's even more beds than bathrooms," Ash groaned.

"Yeah, but they won't take as long as the bathrooms," Misty replied. "Especially with you helping me out!"

Ash finally peeled himself off the wall. He still didn't look thrilled, but it was hard for him to ignore Misty's compliments of him.

"It'll go even faster if we split up," Misty mused. "Or do you want me to show you how to do it first?"

"I think I can manage," Ash jibed.

"I'll even make it easy for you," Misty decided, her voice playful. "I'll change the sheets on our bed, since it's the biggest one. You can start with one of the kids', your pick."

Ash thought about it for a moment before declaring, "I guess I'll change Michelle's. Her room is usually the cleanest, so I shouldn't be stepping on anything or getting tripped up."

"Good choice," Misty commended. "That definitely makes hers the easiest. Elizabeth's bed is smaller, but that floor can be a nightmare."

"Yeah, I'd rather not be slipping on any stuffed Pokémon or tripping over tutus today," Ash muttered.

Misty giggled before instructing him, "The extra sheets for Michelle's bed are in her closet, on the top shelf. Just pick one of them out, take off the ones that are on now, and put on the new ones. Easy enough!"

Ash grinned confidently and nodded. As Misty skirted down the hall towards their bedroom, Ash took a sharp right and entered Michelle's room, which was, as he had expected, relatively spotless. Michelle tended to be much more responsible than her siblings and therefore kept a much tidier bedroom.

Walking over to her closet, Ash pulled open the white doors and scanned its contents. Up on the highest shelf, just as Misty had said, were a few fresh sheet sets. He picked the first one he saw: pool blue and covered in white dots that resembled water color. Ash carried the new sheets over to the bed, and jumped a bit when he saw a ball of yellow fur curled up on the pillow.

"Pikachu," Ash sighed.

The mouse lifted his head, ears twitching upon hearing his trainer's voice.

"Is there where you've been the whole time?" Ash complained.

"Pi-ka," Pikachu confirmed.

"Lucky you," Ash griped. "I just had to spend the last hour cleaning _toilets_."

Pikachu snickered, causing Ash to shake his head. "Yeah, it's real funny when _you_ got to nap through the whole thing."

"Pi-ka Pikachu," Pikachu babbled.

"I know you helped with the laundry," Ash breathed. "But that was nowhere near as traumatizing as the bathrooms."

"Chu."

Ash huffed and tilted his head, grabbing onto the comforter and lifting it off the bed. "Well, since you're here now, you want to help me change Michelle's sheets?"

Pikachu nodded and flew off the pillow, pushing it to the floor with his paws. After that, he crawled over to the edge of the bed, beginning to pull the sheets off with his teeth.

"Nice job," Ash chuckled. "See? I was right! This does go a whole lot faster when we help out!"

"Pi!" Pikachu agreed.

"But it's still taken a while…" Ash thought aloud, helping Pikachu to remove the sheets from Michelle's bed. "I can only imagine how long it takes Misty when she has to do all of this stuff alone."

Pikachu nodded solemnly.

"I gotta tell ya, buddy, I don't think I'd make a very good mom," Ash laughed dryly. "Or a very good homemaker."

"Pika, pikapi," Pikachu squeaked.

"Misty does, though," Ash mused. "She's _great_ at both of those things! I really admire her."

Together, Ash and Pikachu were able to strip Michelle's mattress of its sheets, leaving the pure white rectangle bare and ready for the new set.

"Kay, let's get these new sheets on!" Ash cheered. "The quicker we get them on, the sooner we can move on to the next bed."

 **XXX**

Once all the sheets had been changed, Ash was totally beat. He collapsed on his and Misty's freshly outfitted bed, groaning the moment his head hit the pillow.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to move again," Ash complained. "Why was this even more exhausting than all of my hardcore training?"

"Pi…" Pikachu moaned. He too had thrown himself down, this time at the foot of the bed.

Misty breezed into the room, smiling to herself once she saw Ash and Pikachu sprawled out on the bed. "Wow, those chores really wore you guys out, huh?"

Ash picked his head up and frowned. "I don't know how you do all that stuff without any help."

"You get used to it," Misty replied with a shrug. "After 8 years of this old routine, I can move pretty quickly. Still haven't found a way to make it fun, though."

Ash smirked and put his head back down. "I get that."

"I did have more fun doing them with you."

Ash raised an eyebrow and made to pick his head up again, but Misty pounced on the bed and rested her own head against his before he could make his move.

"You did?" Ash questioned.

Misty hummed and nodded her head. "You tend to make most things more fun than they are. And you did a surprisingly good job!"

"Really?" Ash asked incredulously. "Even after I balled up all of Elizabeth's clothes?"

"That was one hiccup," Misty scoffed. "Besides, you bounced back! You did a good job cleaning the bathrooms. And Michelle and Elizabeth's beds look very neat! You barely even left a wrinkle in those sheets."

"Glad I could make such an impression," Ash teased.

"I really am grateful for your help," Misty murmured, her tone taking on a more serious tone. "I know this wasn't the most fun way to spend a day without the kids, but it was important. And with you helping out, it saved a lot of time. So thank you."

She kissed his cheek, bringing a warm smile to Ash's face. Fluttering her eyelashes, Misty danced her fingers up her husband's arm and continued, "Now, if you want to do something _more_ fun…"

Ash groaned and tilted his head back. "Now?! But I'm _so_ tired!"

Misty blinked and asked, "Really? You're actually too tired for…this?"

She craned her neck, this time pressing her lips against Ash's. He hesitated at first, but then began to return her kiss, whining once Misty pulled away too quickly.

"No," Ash finally grumbled, roughly flipping onto his back. "I think I need a reward, honestly."

Pikachu sighed tiredly and jumped off the foot of Ash and Misty's bed, quickly scurrying out of their room with a long yawn.

 _At least there's three other clean beds for me to take a nap on…_


	14. Queen of the Pool

**So I was thinking, Aiden and Elizabeth both have their favorite athletic activities (baseball and dance) but Michelle never really had one. I've always envisioned her loving to swim, though, and that's when I realized I was missing out on giving her something to do!**

 **So...here it is!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 6 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 6 months old**

* * *

 **Queen of the Pool**

"Man, look at Michelle go!"

Misty giggled at Ash's impressed comment. "Of course! You know how fast she is in the water!"

"Yeah, but this is like extreme," Ash whistled. "I actually think she's going even faster than Aiden!"

Raising an eyebrow, Misty watched more closely as her two oldest children completed their latest race against one another in the gym's pool. Michelle was a decent length ahead of her brother, and managed to reach out and touch the wall well before he did. Her head popped up from beneath the water, beaming and giggling as her brother finally reached the wall himself.

"I won!" Michelle squealed, bobbing up and down in the water. "Again!"

"Are you cheating?" Aiden whined, unable to believe he couldn't beat his sister.

"No," Michelle calmly argued. "I'm just really fast! Kinda like a mermaid."

Aiden sulked and turned around, slowly swimming towards the side of the pool closest to his parents. Michelle raised an eyebrow and followed after him, not keen on being left out of whatever it was he was about to do.

"Mom, Dad, I can't beat Michelle," Aiden grumbled, gripping onto the edge of the pool as he scowled up at them.

"Winning isn't everything, Aiden," Misty patiently reminded her son.

"Mom's right," Ash chimed in. "Besides, I think you're probably just a bit faster on land! Michelle's got the edge in the water."

"It's cause I'm like a mermaid!" Michelle repeated, her eyes glimmering.

"Yeah, that's a good explanation," Ash chuckled.

"But I wanna be fast in the water too!" Aiden complained.

"You _are_ fast in the water, Aiden," Misty tried. "You still swim much faster than most kids your age!"

"Yeah, but I'm not racing _them_ ," Aiden grumbled.

"I think maybe it's time to take a break from racing," Misty suggested. "Why don't you two play a different game instead?"

"Like what?" Michelle squeaked, tilting her head.

Misty walked over to a nearby basket and pulled out four colorful rings, tossing them into the water. The twins whipped around and watched them sink towards the bottom of the pool, gasping before quickly diving after them.

"They love those things," Misty laughed.

"Hey Mist, do you think maybe we should put Michelle on a swim team or something?"

Misty's ears perked at the suggestion. "A swim team?"

"Well yeah," Ash replied, shrugging his shoulders. "She's really good at racing in the water! And she seems to like it. Besides, I know she's gotten a lot less shy, but a little extra socialization couldn't hurt. I bet she could make some new friends!"

"You know, my grandma put me on a swim team when I was about Michelle's age," Misty mused.

"Did it go over better than the dancing did?" Ash asked warily, recalling the horror stories his wife's sisters had told him.

"Yes," Misty sighed, annoyed that Ash had remembered those tales. "I always loved anything that had to do with the water, so swim team was right up my alley! It didn't hurt that I was super competitive."

"Hurt or help?" Ash teasingly questioned.

"Stuff it," Misty grumbled.

"Come on, think about it!" Ash urged, gently elbowing his wife. "It could really be great for Michelle."

"You're not wrong, but that's not exactly our choice to make," Misty responded. "Michelle is old enough now to decide what she does or doesn't want to do. So I think we'll have to ask her and let her make that decision."

"Fair enough," Ash relented. "Guess we can bring it up to her later!"

 **XXX**

"Hey Michelle, Mommy and I have a question for you!"

The young girl picked her head up from the book she was reading, looking slightly alarmed. Ash understood that look right away and chuckled.

"You're not in trouble, princess," Ash informed her.

"Oh," Michelle squeaked, placing the book in her lap. "Okay!"

"We were really impressed by how fast you can swim," Ash began. "Do you like it?"

"Yeah, I _love_ swimming!" Michelle giggled. "It makes me feel like a mermaid."

"That's why Daddy and I were thinking you might like to join a swim team," Misty continued. "Does that sound like something you'd like to do?"

Michelle blinked. "What's that?"

"A swim team?" Misty asked, Michelle nodding her head. "Oh. It's just like Aiden's baseball team, except with swimming! You'd get to race other kids in the pool and try to win."

Michelle's jaw dropped. "They have those?!"

Misty laughed joyfully at her daughter's reaction. "Yes, they do! I was on one when I was your age."

The young girl discarded her book to the other side of the couch and jumped up to her knees, beaming at both of her parents. "I want to do that! It'd be so much fun!"

"Awesome!" Ash cheered. "We can take you to the pool tomorrow and you can show the coaches how great at swimming you are!"

That suggestion caused Michelle to shrink back. "Huh? Show them? In our pool?"

"Well yeah, you've got to show them all of your different skills," Ash replied. "That way they know the right team to put you on!"

"But it won't be in the gym," Misty added. "We'll have to go to the aquatic center."

Michelle frowned. "What if they don't think I'm good?"

"They're going to think you're great!" Ash assured her. "Besides, they don't want to judge you or anything like that. They just want to do what's best for you!"

"Daddy's right," Misty agreed. "You wouldn't want to end up the wrong team, right? Where the other kids are too slow or too fast?"

Michelle thought for a moment before hesitantly shaking her head.

"If you're uncomfortable, you can always back out," Misty continued. "But I think it'd be good for you to give it a try! What do you say?"

Michelle remained silent for a short time once again. She then smiled timidly and nodded her head, much to her parents' delight.

"That's my girl!" Ash boasted. "Don't worry, Shelly. We'll be there for you all the way!"

 **XXX**

Cerulean City was quite proud of its history with the water, so naturally the Cerulean City Aquatic Center was a big hit amongst many citizens. The star attraction of the building, of course, was the gigantic pool used for everything from swimming lessons to exercise classes. The aquatic center was also home to Cerulean's youth swimming teams.

Michelle stood by the side of that large pool, anxiously pulling at the thick straps of her blue swimsuit. Her parents sat on a bench nearby, Aiden impatiently looking around the room and baby Elizabeth snoozing in her carrier.

When they'd first walked in, Michelle had been introduced to one of the swimming coaches: Mira. She was a kind, younger woman who had managed to quell Michelle's nerves well enough. That was, however, until they'd actually gotten to the pool. It was so big that it made the gym pool seem like nothing, and all of a sudden Michelle was panicking again.

"You don't have to be nervous, Michelle," Mira informed the young girl, leading her to look over her shoulder. "I just want to see what you can do!"

"…okay," Michelle murmured unsurely.

"How about we get in the water?" Mira offered. She walked past the little girl, sitting on the edge of the pool and sliding in. "Do you know how to get in like that?"

Michelle silently nodded her head. She walked closer to the pool, sitting down and sliding in just as Mira had done.

"Good job!" Mira complimented the little girl. "Now, can you hold onto the edge and blow bubbles?"

Michelle nodded once again and gripped the edge of the pool, sticking her face halfway into the water in order to blow bubbles.

"Very nice!" Mira crooned. "How about kicking the water? You can still hold onto the edge of the pool while you do it."

Aiden groaned and rolled his eyes. " _Everyone_ can do this stuff!"

"Shh," Misty hushed the boy.

"What?" Aiden whined. "They can!"

"Just because you and Michelle can doesn't mean _everyone_ can," Misty reminded her son. "Besides, it isn't all about what she can do, you know. They also ask her to do all of this to make sure she can follow instructions!"

"Michelle can follow –structions really good," Aiden replied. "Much more good than me!"

Back in the pool, Michelle had finished kicking the water while holding onto the wall, and was now beginning to show off a bit more of a smile as Mira spoke to her. That was pretty much how Michelle operated: she remained wary of anyone she didn't know until she started to feel more comfortable around them.

"Now, do you feel comfortable moving away from the wall?" Mira asked. Michelle's smile widened as she nodded confidently, earning some surprise from Mira. "Oh! Well, perfect! Let's head this way!"

Mira moved away from the wall, closer to the center of the pool. Michelle followed quickly behind, ready to do whatever Mira asked for next.

"Can you swim that way?" Mira asked, pointing straight ahead. "Just up to that rope right there?"

"Uh huh!" Michelle chirped, quickly taking off in that direction. Mira's eyes widened when she saw Michelle's speed, and even more when the little girl spun around and swam right back without being asked.

"My goodness, you are fast!" Mira marveled.

"Yeah!" Michelle giggled. "I race my brother all the time, and I always win!"

Aiden, who had heard that from the bench, crossed his arms and pouted. Mira giggled and continued, "Well, I think you would be just perfect on one of our swim teams! You are very good at swimming, Michelle, but I can tell just how much you love it!"

"It makes me feel like a mermaid!" Michelle chirped.

"That makes a lot of sense," Mira laughed. "Why don't we hop out of the pool? You can start drying off while I talk to your mommy and daddy."

Michelle nodded and swam towards the pool later, grabbing on and climbing out with ease. Mira continued to look impressed as she followed the little girl out, heading towards the family on the bench while Michelle retrieved her towel from a nearby hook.

"So?" Ash asked as Mira got closer. "What do you think? She's good, right?"

"Ash!" Misty hissed, narrowing her eyes at him.

"She's _great_ ," Mira corrected, sounding completely in awe. "It's very unusual to see a kid her age with that kind of skill! She obviously practices a whole lot."

"She and her brother go swimming pretty much every day," Misty replied, nodding towards Aiden. "I took them in the pool for the first time when they were 2 months old and I've been giving them swimming lessons since they were 4 months old. So they've pretty much always been in the water!"

"That's a great way to approach it," Mira noted. "A lot of parents are afraid to put their kids in the water, but the younger you start them, the better! Of course, you know that. You're a brilliant water Pokémon trainer!"

"I just didn't want them to ever be afraid of the water, truthfully," Misty laughed nervously. "I've been doing the same thing with Elizabeth and it seems to be working out well with her too. She's only 6 months old, but she's very happy in the water."

"I bet she'll be just as good of a swimmer as her big brother and sister when she gets older," Mira giggled before bending at the knees to be at eye level with Aiden. "What about you, little guy? Would you be interested in being on a swim team like your sister?"

Aiden twisted his mouth and shook his head. "No, I like baseball! I just like to go swimming for fun."

Mira giggled and stood back up. "Well, at least he's honest!"

"Sometimes a little too much," Misty sighed.

"Anyway, I really think Michelle would do great on one of our swim teams," Mira continued. "She's a fantastic swimmer, but I can also tell she's a little bit shy. Once she warmed up to me, though, she was super sweet and becoming totally confident! If she joins a team like this with other kids, I really think it'll help her bring out that confidence even more."

"She's gotten so much better than she used to be," Ash added. "This could really be the final push to get that shyness out of her system!"

Misty hummed to herself and looked over towards Michelle, who was skipping towards them with her towel wrapped around her. "She _does_ seem awfully happy…"

Michelle skipped right into Ash's arms, nestling herself against him as he wrapped his arms around her.

"There's my little princess!" Ash chuckled. "Did you have fun in the pool with Mira?"

"Yeah!" Michelle squeaked. "A lot of fun!"

"That's good," Ash laughed. "So, do you think you'd like to swim on a team here?"

Michelle rapidly nodded her head, and Ash let out a little whistle. "I don't think I've ever seen her say 'yes' to something so fast! Well, other than dessert."

"Cool!" Aiden cheered. "Now Shelly can beat people in races who aren't me!"

Ash's laughter became more nervous, while Misty glanced over at Mira. "See? Just a _little_ too honest."


	15. Ten

**So Elizabeth's birthday is August 5th and today is...the 8th. So sorry for being late again! But this one really escaped me. I got so caught up in it, it was getting longer and longer...but the good news is I'm extremely proud of how this came out. In fact, this is one of my favorite one shots in recent memory. So hopefully that makes up for the wait!**

 **This one is something I've had requests for a very long time, and I finally decided to take a shot at it. Enjoy!**

 **Elizabeth: 10 years old**

* * *

 **Ten**

Elizabeth Ketchum shot up in bed the second her alarm clock rang.

Honestly, she probably hadn't even needed it. She was so excited she'd hardly been able to sleep. But she'd still set the alarm clock, because honestly, she was afraid of ending up like her father: nearly sleeping through her first official day as a Pokémon trainer.

Indeed, today was Elizabeth's 10th birthday. It was a day she had been anticipating for what felt like forever. Elizabeth had always known she wanted to be a trainer, but she became especially impatient when her older siblings left for their own journeys nearly six years ago. She'd begged and pleaded to go with them, but for some _crazy_ reason, her parents hadn't liked the idea of a 4 year old going out into the world without adult supervision.

Elizabeth supposed she understood it a bit better now than she did then, but she still found it a bit silly.

The excited girl jumped out of bed, her dark red, past-the-shoulder length hair still disheveled, and ran right out of her room. She didn't care that she was still in her pajamas: her indigo blue tank top trimmed in white lace and floral printed flannel shorts with ruffles at each leg. Elizabeth darted down the hallway, reaching the stairs and descending past the various framed photographs, many of which had been there since long before she was even born.

Elizabeth was expecting to find her mother in the kitchen, like she did every other morning. She figured that this morning might be a little different, however. It _was_ her birthday, after all. She was willing to bet that her mother would be there waiting with a special breakfast; something like waffles covered in fresh fruit, and maybe even caramel!

What Elizabeth found, however, was a completely empty kitchen.

"This is weird…" Elizabeth commented aloud to no one but herself. "Even for a normal day."

She stepped all the way into the kitchen and peered through every doorway, wondering if her mother was hiding somewhere and waiting to jump out and surprise her. But she found nothing. There wasn't even any food cooking in the oven. Scowling, Elizabeth made a last ditch attempt of checking the fridge, but there was no special breakfast in there either.

"What is this?!" Elizabeth cried, pushing the refrigerator door closed. Storming over to the doorway, Elizabeth glanced up towards the stairs and yelled, "Mom! Dad!"

But no one responded. Elizabeth threw her head back and whined, stomping over to the table and slumping down in her chair.

"Great, it's my birthday and my whole family ditches me. This is so lame!"

 **XXX**

At the exact same time Elizabeth was having her mini meltdown, slowly but surely, her mother Misty could feel herself growing impatient and a bit anxious.

"Ash, come on, we have to hurry. If Elizabeth wakes up and sees that we're not home, she's going to freak out. Especially since I haven't even started cooking her special birthday breakfast yet!"

"Lizzie will be fine," Ash assured his wife. "She's the most easygoing of our kids, after all."

Pikachu, who was sitting in Misty's lap, made an unsure squeak.

"You underestimate her temper when provoked," Misty sighed, patting the mouse's head in agreement.

"I guess, but she'll understand when she sees we were just trying to make her birthday extra special!" Ash reasoned.

The couple was returning from a quick shopping trip downtown. Ash had come up with what he believed was a brilliant idea: giving Elizabeth a few small surprises pertaining to the special starter Pokémon she'd be receiving. Ash had caught that Pokémon himself, and left it with Professor Oak for safekeeping until the big day. Now it was finally here, but in typical Ash fashion, he had left the shopping aspect of the surprise until the last minute.

"I sure hope so," Misty muttered, turning her head to gaze out the window.

Ash smiled sympathetically, though Misty couldn't see it. "I know this is hard for you."

"I thought it'd be easier after the first time," Misty groaned, squeezing her eyes shut. "But it's not. It might actually be worse this time because once Elizabeth leaves, we'll be alone in the house."

Ash twisted his mouth. He knew Misty was right. It would definitely be strange…they hadn't lived without any children in nearly 16 years. They were both still young, though. It wouldn't be difficult at this stage in their lives to have another baby or two, but Ash knew better than to suggest that to his wife, especially right now.

Besides, he knew that wouldn't be the same as having Aiden, Michelle, and Elizabeth around. Those three could never, _ever_ be replaced.

"We'll be okay," Ash declared. "There's lots we can do to keep ourselves busy. But for now, let's just focus on Elizabeth's birthday."

Misty silently nodded her head, opening her eyes to continuing staring out the window.

 **XXX**

Elizabeth was still sitting at the kitchen table with a pout on her face when the front door opened. The girl raised an eyebrow in interest, but quickly furrowed both of them when she saw her parents walk in. They both appeared happy and ready to say something to her, but Elizabeth jumped in first.

"Where were you?!" She cried.

"We're sorry, Lizzie," Misty earnestly replied. "Daddy and I just had some errands to run."

"Errands?" Elizabeth repeated incredulously. "This early?"

"Yeah, the stores are quieter in the morning," Ash blurted, earning a look of confusion from his daughter. "Uh…Mommy taught me that."

"Right…" Elizabeth murmured.

"You don't have to worry," Misty quickly added, regaining Elizabeth's attention. "We didn't forget your birthday!"

She strode forward and wrapped the petite girl up in a hug. Elizabeth seemed a little surprised at first, but that easily gave way to an impish smile.

"I hope not," the young redhead giggled.

"Never," Misty assured, pulling away and gently gripping Elizabeth's shoulders. "Daddy and I could never forget!"

"Yeah, you're our baby," Ash chuckled, stepping forward to ruffle the girl's hair. "Your birthday is a really big deal!"

"But this birthday is the biggest deal," Elizabeth reminded her parents, as though they had forgotten why. Ash, of course, caught onto this, and he was never one to pass up a chance to tease his children.

"It is?" Ash teased. "Why's that?"

"Duh, I'm 10!" Elizabeth cried, holding up both of her hands with every last finger fanned out. "As of today, I'm officially a Pokémon trainer!"

"Ah, you're right," Ash chuckled. "I forgot!"

Elizabeth sighed and tilted her head. "Daddy, you're not funny."

"Mommy thinks I'm funny," Ash replied, shrugging his shoulders as he turned to look at his wife. "Right?"

Misty thought about it for a split second before playfully retorting, "No."

Ash pouted while Elizabeth started to giggle. She adored her father, but she _was_ his daughter, and it was just too much fun to tease him right back. Elizabeth was a smart girl, after all, and she always knew exactly when her father was messing with her. Very often, she could tell he was about to do it before he even said a word. She just had that kind of connection with him.

"Elizabeth, why don't you go get dressed?" Misty suggested, halting the girl's laughter. "I've got to make you your special birthday breakfast, but it'll take me a little while."

Elizabeth's face lit up. "You're still going to make me my special birthday breakfast?"

"Of course!" Misty chirped. "Just like I would never forget your birthday, I'd never forget your special birthday breakfast."

The girl jumped out of her seat and clapped her hands together. "Yay!" Turning towards her father, Elizabeth held out an arm and beckoned, "Pikachu, come with me!"

"Pi!" Pikachu squeaked, jumping off his trainer's shoulder and scurrying up Elizabeth's arm.

"Just think," Elizabeth breathed. "In a couple of hours, I'll have my very own Pokémon! I can't wait!"

And with that, the beaming child darted straight out of the kitchen, leaving behind her two highly amused parents.

"She's so much like you it's scary," Misty addressed her husband, skirting over to the pantry to begin gathering ingredients.

"I think it's awesome," Ash chuckled. "I mean, I wasn't really surprised when Aiden turned out like me. But Elizabeth? I never really thought about what it would be like to have a daughter who was similar to me."

"You never really thought about anything aside from Pokémon or food before we were together," Misty teased, pulling out a large mixing bowl and placing it amongst the ingredients.

"I thought about _some_ other things," Ash calmly challenged her. "But kids definitely weren't one of them."

"And now they're your best friends," Misty replied in a sing-song voice.

"They're pretty cool," Ash agreed, smirking back at her. "Aiden and Michelle work so hard as trainers, and I know Elizabeth is going to be just as determined. I'm really proud of all three of them."

"I am too," Misty murmured. She remained silent for a few moments as she began to prepare Elizabeth's special breakfast. After a bit of time, however, she continued, "so, do you think your plan is going to work?"

"I sure hope it does," Ash sighed. "Elizabeth is really smart. I'm worried she's going to catch on and figure out the surprise before she can actually _be_ surprised."

"I'm sure she won't," Misty breathed quickly. She couldn't be 100% certain of that because, just like Ash had said, Elizabeth was an incredibly bright girl. There was always the chance of her catching on, because it happened quite often. More often than her parents would like.

Ash frowned at his wife's non-committal response. "That didn't really sound too confident."

"Sorry," Misty apologized, shaking her head out. "Just do your best! You always do. As long as _you're_ confident, Elizabeth probably won't get suspicious."

Ash swallowed thickly as he nodded his head. Misty was right. Confidence was key. Elizabeth _was_ smart, but she also looked up to him, and as long as he put up a strong front, she would probably be super into the whole thing and not try and read into it.

"Tada!"

Ash and Misty looked through the kitchen doorway, spotting Elizabeth at the bottom of the stairs with Pikachu circling her feet. She had returned fully dressed in the brand new outfit Misty had picked out for her: a candy pink dress with thin straps and fluttery sleeves that wrapped around her shoulders. The dress perfectly matched her adorable low-top sneakers, totally pink with the exception of the sides, which were splashed with dazzling silver glitter. To tie everything together, a silver glitter bow attached to a headband was placed atop the girl's head.

"Oh, Lizzie, don't you look gorgeous!" Misty practically squealed.

"Like a little princess!" Ash chimed in.

"Thanks!" Elizabeth giggled. "I really feel like one!"

Ash slowly looked over his shoulder at Misty, who gave him a small nod. Grinning, Ash grabbed onto the bag full of goodies he and Misty had just purchased downtown, and carried it over towards his daughter.

"Elizabeth," Ash began, causing the girl to glance up at him. "I've got a couple of special birthday surprises for you!"

Her eyes widened at that, especially when she realized he had a bag in his hands. "Is that what those errands were for?"

"Sure were!" Ash chuckled.

"Why didn't you say so?" Elizabeth asked with a delighted giggle. "I wouldn't have been so mad if I knew _that_!"

"I can't give away all of my secrets," Ash joshed. "Life would be much more boring if I did!"

"What're my surprises?" Elizabeth rushed out, making a jump for the bag. Before she could get her hands on it, Ash pulled it away, causing the girl to pout. "Hey!"

"You can't just dig right in!" Ash cried. "It's not much of a surprise that way."

That explanation didn't seem to do much in terms of placating Elizabeth. She continued to pout, earning another hearty laugh from her father. This caused her to soften a bit. Elizabeth adored Ash, and the sound of his laughter had always managed to transfix her.

"I'll give you one at a time," Ash continued, holding up a single finger for emphasis.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "How many surprises do you have in there?"

"Just a few," Ash replied. "Now…you want the first one?"

Elizabeth's lips bent back into a smile as she nodded her head.

"Close your eyes and hold out your hands," Ash instructed. Elizabeth did just that, and once Ash was certain she wasn't peeking, he reached into the bag and pulled out the first of the gifts, placing it in the palms of his daughter's outstretched hands. "Kay, open your eyes!"

Elizabeth's eyelids fluttered open, and she found herself staring at the object in her hands: a beautiful silver picture frame surrounded by the images of poke balls made up of red, white, and black crystals.

"Ooh, this is so pretty!" Elizabeth squealed, her eyes sparkling.

"You can put a picture of you and your very first Pokémon in it," Ash informed her.

"That's such a good idea!" Elizabeth trilled, hugging the frame against her chest. She loosened her grip after a moment and added, "But I still haven't decided between Bulbasaur, Squirtle, or Charmander."

Ash could feel his heart speed up a bit, but he managed to keep playing it cool. "That's alright. You've still got some time to decide!"

"Not that much," Elizabeth replied warily. "I'm gonna have to figure it out by the time we get to Professor Oak's lab."

"Well, the good news is that Professor Oak has known you since you were a baby," Misty reminded her daughter, piling the freshly finished waffles on three separate plates. "He'll be very patient with you! Don't rush into any decisions. This is a big one, after all."

Elizabeth's eyes widened at the sight of the food. She breezed past her father, who managed a look of disappointment. Pikachu tilted his head and scurried up to his trainer, easily scaling the man and settling on his broad shoulder. Ash's frown disappeared the moment Pikachu rubbed against his cheek, quickly replaced by a chuckle and a scratch between the ears.

"I hope you made plenty of those," Elizabeth breathed, gazing in awe at the waffles as they were carried to the table. "I'm starving!"

"You sure eat a lot for such a little thing," Misty remarked, earning a cheeky grin from her youngest child.

Elizabeth was certainly petite: very skinny and a bit on the shorter side. She had inherited her mother's long legs, however, and that seemed to make her appear a bit taller. Elizabeth, however, didn't necessarily mind being smaller. She thought it made things like running and jumping and dancing much easier.

"I know," Elizabeth giggled. "And I'm especially hungry this morning! There might not even be any left for Daddy!"

"Hey, not funny!" Ash whined, whipping around and rushing towards the kitchen table. "Leave some for me!"

 **XXX**

As soon as Elizabeth had finished her breakfast, she began pleading to head straight to Professor Oak's lab.

"Why the big rush?" Misty questioned. "You just said before you still don't know which Pokémon you want."

"I don't," Elizabeth confirmed. "But I want to make sure I can actually choose between all three! Not like-"

"Can we stop bringing up my disastrous first day as a trainer?" Ash groaned. "I knew telling you kids that story was a mistake…"

"Nuh uh, it's my favorite!" Elizabeth giggled.

"Mine too," Misty cheerfully agreed, causing Ash's sulk to deepen. "Alright, that's enough teasing Daddy for one morning. If you really want to get going to Professor Oak's lab, then we will."

"Yay!" Elizabeth cheered, jumping right out of her seat. "I'm so excited!"

The girl ran straight for the front door, while Ash and Misty slowly got up and prepared to follow calmly after her.

"That first surprise went over pretty well," Misty commented.

"I guess, except Elizabeth still hasn't gotten the hint," Ash mused.

"Well, you were worried about her figuring the whole thing out, so I'd say that's a good thing," Misty sniffed.

"Guess you're right," Ash sighed, tilting his head.

"When are you going to give her the next one?" Misty asked.

After taking a minute to think about it, Ash replied, "Right before we head to the lab. The trip will give her some time to think."

He gathered the shopping bag that contained the rest of Elizabeth's surprises. Pikachu, who had just polished off the last of his breakfast, climbed back up to Ash's shoulder. Misty was already heading towards the front door, so Ash picked up his pace in order to catch up with her. Elizabeth was waiting there, impatiently shifting from one foot to the other.

"Someone's just raring to go, huh?" Ash chuckled, causing Elizabeth to pout much like he had before. "Hey, no need to get testy! What if I give you another one of your surprises?"

That perked Elizabeth up. She repeated her actions from before without having to be told: closing her eyes and holding out her hands. Ash retrieved the next surprise and handed it over to Elizabeth, who was quick to reopen her eyes.

This time, Ash had given her a pretty light pink bow, which matched the color of her dress almost perfectly. Elizabeth was excited by the gift, but also a bit confused. She owned so many bows already, and was certain she had a color just like this up in her room.

"It's not for you," Ash laughed, realizing his daughter was bewildered. "It's for your first Pokémon!"

"But what if it's a boy?" Elizabeth questioned. "I can't put a bow on a boy Pokémon!"

"Why not?" Ash asked. "Boys can like bows! And pink!"

"You don't," Elizabeth muttered. "And neither does Aiden. Or David. I don't know any boys who like pink or bows!"

Ash's cheeks flashed a pale red at the mention of Elizabeth's friend David. He was going on this journey with her, and it drove Ash crazy to no end. He could only help their other friend Maria would serve as a good buffer between the two.

"Just wait and see," Ash tried. "You don't know what your Pokémon is going to be like!"

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. What was _that_ supposed to mean? It was like her father knew what her Pokémon was going to be like. But how could he? She didn't have it yet!

Ash saw the expression change on Elizabeth's face, and his nerves flared up again. "Anyway, let's head on over to the lab! You wanted to be early, right?"

"Um…yeah…"

"Great! I think Mommy is already outside! Let's go!"

Ash opened the door and rushed outside, Elizabeth grabbing onto the frame and furrowing her brow. "Daddy is being weird."

 **XXX**

The entire trip to Professor Oak's lab, Elizabeth thought aloud about each possible starter she could choose. She went over the positives about Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander, trying to figure out which one would suit her best. Misty thought it was adorable, and Ash did too, but he was far more nervous than his wife.

"I think I'm just making myself more confused," Elizabeth sighed, slumping against her seat. "What do you think, Pikachu? Which Pokémon should I choose?"

"Pi!" Pikachu trilled, his ears twitching.

"I can't pick you, silly!" Elizabeth giggled. "Your Daddy's Pokémon! Although, I wouldn't mind taking you with me…"

Ash's eyes widened, his head snapping to look over his shoulder. "What?!"

Elizabeth started to laugh again. "I'm just kidding! I would never take Pikachu with me, Daddy. I know you guys are best friends!"

Ash let out a sigh of relief, swiveling his head back around. "I think she teases a bit too much."

"Sorry, she gets that from me," Misty apologized, her eyes twinkling with unabashed pride.

The second the family pulled up to Professor Oak's lab, Elizabeth unbuckled herself and threw open the car door, flying out like a Pidgey on a sugar high. Ash and Misty both whipped around, alarmed by their daughter's sudden exit.

"She's really wasting her breath," Ash muttered, causing Misty to groan and smack a hand against her face.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, was not about to stop in her tracks or wait for her parents. She was making a bee line for the lab, running up the tall, winding steps that would lead her to the front door. As soon as she made it, she allowed herself entrance, not even bothering to knock. She knew her mother would scold her for it as soon as she caught up, but Elizabeth was just too excited to care.

She kept on running through the foyer and up the next set of stairs which led her to the professor's sitting area. Elizabeth made no time to stop there either, however, and simply bounded towards the _third_ staircase…this one finally taking her to the actual laboratory where she'd be receiving her very first Pokémon.

Tracey was in the room, but he was sitting at the desk, meaning his back was facing the staircase. He appeared to have his nose buried in one of his sketchbooks, which meant he was totally in the zone and therefore, oblivious. A trick instantly popped up in Elizabeth's head, and she had to quickly cover her mouth to prevent her giggles from escaping. Once she'd managed to settle herself down, Elizabeth began tiptoeing towards the desk, moving as quickly and lightly as she'd been taught in ballet for so many years. As soon as she was close enough, Elizabeth leaned over and, after sucking in a hushed breath, shouted, "HI, UNCLE TRACEY!"

The green haired man yelped and jumped, throwing his arms out and knocking nearly everything off the desk, sending the wooden chair he'd been sitting in backwards. He fell with it, creating a thud so loud and powerful that several nearby books went barreling towards the floor.

Elizabeth gasped and sunk down beside her uncle's head, a deep frown gracing her delicate lips. "I'm sorry! I didn't think you'd get that scared!"

" _Elizabeth Dilynne Ketchum!_ "

The girl gulped as she slowly looked behind her. Ash and Misty were standing at the top of the stairs, both of them looking stunned by the scene before them.

"I didn't mean to!" Elizabeth cried, not even having time to cringe about her mother using her full name against her.

"Why do you have to cause so much trouble?" Misty fretted, ignoring her daughter's protest. "Whatever happened to my sweet baby girl?"

"I think I spent too much time with Daddy," Elizabeth murmured, shyly glancing towards the floor.

"Oh no, don't you pin this on me," Ash calmly retorted, moving towards Tracey and helping the Pokémon watcher back to his feet. "I had nothing to do with this!"

"Not _this_ , but I learned all this kind of stuff from you," Elizabeth muttered, slowly looking up towards her disapproving father. "You're always making jokes and playing tricks!"

"That still doesn't make it okay," Ash sighed.

"Guys, it's alright, I'm fine," Tracey assured Ash and Misty before smiling at Elizabeth. "You're just really excited, huh?"

Elizabeth's own grin returned as she rapidly nodded her head. "Yeah, I am! I can't wait to get my first Pokémon!"

"You'll be lucky if I still allow you to," Misty admonished.

"What?!" Elizabeth cried. "No, Mommy! You can't do that!"

"Yes I can, I'm your mother," Misty nearly hissed. "And you know that kind of behavior isn't acceptable! Especially for a girl who's becoming a Pokémon trainer today!"

"Misty, really, it's okay," Tracey insisted. "Besides, Elizabeth isn't wrong. Ash would've done the exact same thing at her age. Actually, I'm willing to bet he would've still done it right now."

"Thanks, Trace," Ash sighed, squeezing the bridge of his nose as Pikachu snickered.

Despite the hot water she was in, Elizabeth allowed herself to giggle again. Not wanting her mother to have a reason to continue reprimanding her, however, the girl walked closer to the desk and began gathering everything that had fallen off after she'd scared her uncle. When she picked up the sketchbook he'd been busy with, she was able to see what he'd been working on: a stunning colored pencil drawing of grass type Pokémon in a flower-filled meadow.

"Uncle Tracey, this is so pretty!" Elizabeth squealed, jumping up to her feet and holding the sketchbook out.

"I'm glad you think so!" Tracey chuckled, gratefully accepting the book from his niece.

"Is it for a book?" Elizabeth asked. She knew that while her uncle's main job was working as Professor Oak's right-hand man, he also created all kinds of beautiful artwork that were used in Pokémon books.

"It is," Tracey confirmed. "For Gary's, actually! He's writing a new textbook and asked me to do the art for it."

"You're so good at drawing," Elizabeth sighed dreamily.

"Almost as good as you are at dancing!" Tracey crowed.

"I guess so," Elizabeth hummed, shrugging her shoulders.

Tracey laughed and, telling he was beginning to embarrass his niece, decided to change the subject. "So, have you decided which Pokémon you're going to choose?"

"No," Elizabeth sighed. "It's so hard! All three of them are so cute. And there's not one Pokémon type I like more than another! I really don't know who to pick."

Ash stepped forward, holding the shopping bag out towards his puzzled daughter. "Lizzie, I have one more surprise for you, and I think it might help you make your decision."

Elizabeth went wide eyed. "Really?"

"Yeah, I'm willing to bet," Ash chuckled. "Want to try?"

Elizabeth nodded, just once this time, closed her eyes and held out her hands. Ash pulled out the final surprise and handed it over to Elizabeth. "There. Take a look!"

The girl opened her eyes, instantly furrowing her brow one she saw she was holding a brand new backpack: gray in color and printed all over with pink and white flowers. "It's really pretty, but I don't get it. This is supposed to help me pick my first Pokémon?"

"Open it up," Ash prodded, nodding towards the bag.

Silently, Elizabeth unzipped the largest compartment, taking a peek inside. Blinking, she reached in and pulled out an object that was nowhere near brand new.

"Teddi?" Elizabeth questioned, examining her most prized possession. "Now I _really_ don't get it!"

"Sorry I'm late!"

Ash had been about to respond to Elizabeth, but was grateful for the interruption. Professor Oak had finally appeared, his pajamas still on beneath his white lab coat. He had actually managed to get even goofier with age, though Elizabeth found him highly entertaining.

"Professor, you know you're still wearing your pajamas, right?" Tracey groaned.

"Hmm?" Professor Oak hummed, glancing down. "Oh, well. Would you look at that! At least I'm comfortable."

He moved closer to Elizabeth, who was smiling softly at him.

"10 years old already? My, does time fly!" Professor Oak guffawed. "I remember when you were first born. It feels like it was just yesterday!"

"I couldn't agree more," Misty sighed sadly. "It's gone by too fast."

"But I know she's going to make you and Ash very proud," Professor Oak assured, beaming at Misty and then at a blushing Elizabeth. "She always has, after all!"

"I agree with that too," Misty breathed, her smile widening as Ash wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Now, for your first Pokémon-"

"Professor Oak, I still haven't decided which one I want," Elizabeth interrupted, looking and sounding rather remorseful about the whole thing.

Professor Oak, on the other hand, simply chuckled. "I don't think that'll be a problem!"

Elizabeth tilted her head. "You don't?"

The researcher shook his head as he reached into the pocket of his lab coat and pulled out a minimized poke ball, handing it over to an enamored Elizabeth. "Go ahead, see what's inside!"

Elizabeth gave the ball one last look over before pressing the center button to expand it. With a confident smile, she tossed it up in the air and called, "come on out…whoever you are!"

The sphere popped open and released a bright light, forming into an almost bubbly shape on the floor. As soon as the light dissipated, and the Pokémon fully appeared before her, Elizabeth gasped and let out a squeal so loud all of the adults in the room were almost certain their ear drums had burst.

"Oh my gosh!" Elizabeth shrieked. "A Teddiursa!"

The little bear Pokémon was gazing up at Elizabeth with its beady black eyes, its orange-brown fur almost shining under the fluorescent lights of the lab. It had one paw placed in front of its mouth, as Teddiursa were known to do, and would occasionally twitch its big, round ears whenever Elizabeth unleashed another sound of pure joy.

"Professor Oak, you got me a Teddiursa?" Elizabeth breathed, looking up at the elderly researcher.

"Not me," Professor Oak refuted. "Your father!"

Elizabeth spun around, her mouth hanging open. "Daddy? You?"

Ash smiled sheepishly and nodded his head.

"All those surprises he got you were supposed to be hints about your first Pokémon!" Misty added.

"Oh, _that's_ why you stuck Teddi in my new backpack!" Elizabeth giggled. "And I can put a picture of us in the frame, like you said. But…what about the bow? I still don't really get that one."

"I'll show you," Ash chuckled. He took the bow out of the bag, where Elizabeth had put it back for the trip to the lab, and approached Teddiursa. The young Pokémon perked up as Ash got closer, even giving a little bounce as he knelt down in front of it. Once he moved away, Elizabeth saw that he had clipped the pink bow in front of Teddiursa's right ear, not dissimilar to the way Elizabeth often wore them in her own hair.

"Does that mean Teddiursa is a girl?" Elizabeth asked.

"Sure does!" Ash confirmed. "Told you to wait and see!"

"She's such a cutie!" Elizabeth crowed. "I really, really love her, Daddy! Thank you!"

She ran forward and jumped at her father, giving him the biggest, tightest hug she could possibly manage. Ash laughed almost wildly in response, giving his daughter a great hug back.

"Don't mention it," Ash murmured, kissing Elizabeth's temple before staring into her deep green eyes. "Happy birthday, pumpkin!"

The pair separated, Ash turning his attention back to Teddiursa. "This is Elizabeth. She's going to be your new trainer! I know you two will get along great, and she'll take the very best care of you!"

Teddiursa stared at Elizabeth in contemplation. The girl just beamed at the bear, her excitement somehow managing to further overflow. In a split second, Teddiursa was soon smiling as well, happily chanting her own name as she scurried towards Elizabeth. The new trainer knelt down, lifting the normal type up in her arms and rubbing their noses together.

"You're so sweet, too!" Elizabeth giggled. "I can't wait to go on all kinds of adventures together!"

"Ur!" Teddiursa agreed, throwing her paws up in the air.

Tracey hummed, looking over at his thrilled sister-in-law. "Ash has really wised up, huh?"

"He knows how to make the people he loves very happy," Misty concurred, nodding her head. "Ash is really something special."

Pikachu, feeling left out, jumped to the floor and began pawing at Elizabeth's leg, silently begging to join in. Elizabeth quickly got the hint, grinning at the electric mouse before placing Teddiursa back on the floor.

"This is my daddy's Pikachu," Elizabeth informed the little bear. "I bet you two will like playing together!"

"Ursa?" Teddiursa murmured, tilting her head.

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu greeted, spinning around to gently tickle Teddiursa's cheek with the tip of his tail. The normal type began laughing almost immediately, clapping her paws together in delight.

"I knew it!" Elizabeth trilled, standing up to her full height. "Fast friends!"

"I'm so glad you love Daddy's surprise," Misty commented, catching Elizabeth's attention. "That took a lot of pressure off, huh?"

"It sure did!" Elizabeth cheerfully agreed.

"Now all you have left to decide on is whether you're going to do gym battles or contests," Ash chuckled.

Elizabeth's face paled as the smile faded and gave way to a look of frustration. "Don't remind me!"

* * *

 **Right, so she still can't decide actually which kind of trainer she wants to be. Elizabeth is very set when she knows what she wants, but when she isn't sure, she's _extremely_ indecisive.** **I am too, so I can relate ;)**

 **I wonder what you all think though. Would Elizabeth become a gym trainer? A coordinator? Maybe both? Tell me! I'm really curious.**


	16. A Buddy for Bayleef

**I think Bayleef is one of my favorite of Ash's Pokémon. I love their interactions and I think it's just as much fun to write them! Which is why I also tend to assume Bayleef's relationship with Ash's children would be relatively similar.**

 **Especially with Aiden.**

 **Aiden: 5 years old**

* * *

 **A Buddy for Bayleef**

Aiden sat with his back against the wooden fence that surrounded Professor Oak's ranch, a pout on his face as his brown eyes scanned the spacious field in front of him.

When his father had told him they were going to Professor Oak's, Aiden had assumed it was to _train_ with the Pokémon. Well…he was still "too young" to battle, but he at least thought he'd be able to watch his father command his Pokémon!

Instead, they had gone to the ranch in order for Ash to _take care_ of the Pokémon.

Aiden wasn't one for grooming or feeding. Maybe when he was younger, but now he found all that stuff to be really boring. Battling was so much more exciting and fun! His father, however, seemed to constantly remind him that there was much more to raising Pokémon than just battling with them.

The young boy set his eyes on his father, who was brushing one of his Tauros several feet away. He seemed very concentrated on the task…just as much as he did during a battle. Standing up, Aiden dragged himself over to the pair, making sure to emphasize his pout.

"Are you done yet?" Aiden whined.

"Nope," Ash replied, looking away to smirk at his son. "Let me guess. You're bored."

Aiden frowned and nodded his head, causing Ash to chuckle.

"Now how can you be bored here?" Ash questioned. "This place is _full_ of Pokémon! You can go play with any of them you want!"

"I don't wanna play," Aiden groaned. "I wanna watch you battle!"

"I already told you, buddy, today isn't a training day," Ash sighed. "My friends here need a little bit of maintenance! Right, Tauros?"

The wild bull Pokémon mooed a loud affirmative, earning another laugh from Ash. Aiden was not as jovial as them, however, and instead crossed his arms and looked away.

"Come on, champ," Ash prodded. "What did I teach you about being a good Pokémon trainer? You've got to do a lot more than just train with your Pokémon to make them strong. You have to build a bond with them, take care of them, and understand them."

Aiden grimaced at the speech. He had heard it a hundred times already, and although he knew his dad had to be right (he _was_ the Pokémon Master, after all), it still sounded so boring to him.

"Bay! Bay!"

Aiden turned around at the cry, while Ash just smirked.

"Word must've gotten out," he chuckled.

A medium sized, dinosaur-like Pokémon was charging right towards Aiden and Ash, her brown eyes glimmering with excitement.

"Bayleef!" Aiden cried. When the leaf Pokémon failed to slow down, however, Aiden became considerably less exited and took a step back towards his father. "Daddy, Bayleef's goin' really fast…"

"Yeah, that's Bayleef for ya!" Ash crowed. He took a large step away from Tauros, holding his arms out to the sides. "Come 'ere, girl!"

Bayleef took an impressive leap, soaring over Aiden's head and colliding with Ash's chest, knocking the man to the ground. Aiden spun around once again, watching with wide eyes as Bayleef nuzzled a heartily laughing Ash.

"I missed you too!" Ash wheezed, moving his head from side-to-side to try and catch his breath. "Aha…come on, Bayleef, I can't breathe!"

"Bay! Bay!" Bayleef trilled, giving Ash's cheek a big lick.

Aiden blinked and shuffled closer to the two. He knelt down by his father's head, watching as Bayleef tried to lap at Ash's twitchy face.

"She does this a lot, Daddy," Aiden commented.

Bayleef finally picked her head up and instead turned her focus onto Aiden. Before the boy knew it, the back of his shirt was in Bayleef's mouth, and he was dangling in midair.

"Huh?!" Aiden gasped. "Bayleef, lemme go!"

The leaf Pokémon finally picked herself off of Ash's chest and carried Aiden several inches away. Ash sat up and watched as Bayleef released Aiden on the ground, releasing her twin vines to pat the flustered young boy on the head. Ash snickered and got back to his feet, dusting off his shirt and pants.

"Bayleef likes you too, Aiden," Ash stated.

"Not like you," Aiden calmly retorted. "She doesn't tackle me!"

"That's because if she did that to _you_ , you'd get hurt," Ash replied. "And Bayleef knows better than that!"

"Bay!" Bayleef confirmed.

Aiden glanced up at the grass type and smiled. "Well…I like you too!"

"Bay-lee!" Bayleef crooned, obviously happy to hear that.

As Ash watched the two, an idea popped into his head. With a smile on his face, Ash slunk back over towards Tauros and grabbed a brush, holding it between his hands.

"Hey Aiden, I have an idea!" Ash called, regaining his son's attention. "Why don't you try looking after Bayleef for a bit?"

"Why?" Aiden asked.

"It'll give you something to do instead of just sitting there and watching me," Ash responded. "Besides, you and Bayleef already have a pretty nice bond. That makes her a great Pokémon to practice being a good trainer with!"

Aiden's eyes widened at the mention of the title. "You mean having her use attacks and stuff?!"

"No," Ash groaned. "The _other_ parts of being a good trainer."

"You mean the _boring_ parts," Aiden scoffed.

"Just give it a shot," Ash requested, tossing the brush in Aiden's direction. "You might learn something!"

Aiden picked the brush up and examined it. It had soft, tan bristles on the front, and a wooden back with a black strap for a handle. The young boy looked up to argue with his father once again, but Ash had already resumed grooming Tauros. Aiden grumbled to himself before getting back to his feet, clutching the brush in both hands and staring deeply into Bayleef's eyes.

"Daddy thinks it's important to do more than be good at battling to be a good trainer," Aiden stated. "Do you think he's right, Bayleef?"

"Bay," Bayleef drawled, nodding her head.

Aiden grimaced and glanced down at the brush. "Well…okay. I guess I can try. Can I brush you?"

Bayleef happily nodded her head and settled down in the grass. Aiden moved closer to the grass type and began to stroke her pale yellow coat with the brush his father had given him. As Aiden brushed Bayleef, he was surprised to see what Bayleef's hide was like. It wasn't a full fur coat, like Pikachu had, but rather a very thin layer of fine hair over an otherwise smooth skin. It was so fine, in fact, that Aiden had never remembered even feeling it whenever he pet Bayleef.

"That's cool!" Aiden breathed, Bayleef turning to look at the boy. "I didn't know you had hair!"

"Lee," Bayleef chirped, smiling at the child.

Aiden continued brushing Bayleef, and as he did, the leaf Pokémon started to purr happily…almost like a Meowth. The noise initially caught Aiden off guard, and he stilled his hand, which earned him a dissatisfied whimper from Bayleef.

"You make noises like that when you're happy?" Aiden asked. Once again, Bayleef nodded her head. "Oh, okay! I didn't know that either!"

Bayleef laughed a bit before licking Aiden's bangs up. The boy whined and quickly reached up to try and flatten down his now damp raven locks. As soon as he'd fixed it, however, Bayleef went right ahead and messed them up all over again, causing Aiden to scowl.

"Hey, I'm not the one getting groomed!" Aiden cried.

Bayleef snickered and once again licked Aiden's now exposed forehead. The boy groaned and rolled his eyes, which only made Bayleef laugh more.

"Let me finish brushing you," Aiden pleaded. Bayleef huffed in resignation, turning her head away from the child so he could continue his work. She obviously didn't mind being brushed…it felt nice, and Aiden was surprisingly good at it. Bayleef had known the boy since he was a baby, and had been expecting him to be pretty heavy handed and rough with the brush. But he wasn't. In fact, he brushed just as nicely as Ash did. It was just too much fun to mess with the kid, especially considering how easily he got worked up.

Once Aiden had brushed every last inch of Bayleef, he jumped in front of her, showing off a big grin. "All done! How'd I do?"

"Bay!" Bayleef complimented.

"Great!" Aiden cheered. "What should we do now?"

"Bay bay," Bayleef replied.

Aiden, however, didn't understand what the grass type wanted, and tilted his head in response. "Huh?"

Standing up, Bayleef trotted over to the fence, Aiden following quickly behind. He stopped when she did, and blinked as the leaf Pokémon turned around. She was holding an empty metal bowl in her mouth, and was batting her eyelashes at the still bewildered boy.

"You're hungry?" Aiden asked.

Bayleef shook her head.

"Oh…are you thirsty?" Aiden tried. This time, Bayleef nodded her head, and Aiden beamed. "Got it! I'll just bring you some water!" He skirted forward and gently took the bowl from Bayleef's mouth. "You can stay here in the sun. Daddy says that's good for your leaves."

"Bayleef!" The creature confirmed.

Grinning to himself, Aiden darted off with the bowl, running right past his father. Ash watched as his son scurried off, chuckling as he turned his attention back onto Tauros.

"Sometimes I know what I'm doing," Ash remarked, earning a huff of approval from the wild bull Pokémon.

Aiden had made his way over to the nearby pond. His father had taught him that the water in the pond was always fresh. Professor Oak or his Uncle Tracey changed it out pretty regularly, so it was always a good spot for the Pokémon to get a drink from. Aiden knelt down and dipped the bowl into the water, pulling it back up and smiling once he saw it was full pretty much to the brim.

"Perfect!" Aiden commented. "Bayleef will love this!"

Aiden stood up and began to run back in the direction of Bayleef. He held the bowl out at arm's length, and barely noticed as a large portion of the water splashed out of the bowl…and all over his father.

Ash groaned as he peered through his dripping black hair, plucking the soaked material of his shirt off of his torso. Tauros whinnied laughingly at his trainer's plight, earning an eye roll from Ash.

"At least my intentions are good," Ash grumbled, reaching for the bottom of his drenched shirt and pulling it over his head.

Aiden, meanwhile, had returned to Bayleef, beaming as he placed the bowl down in front of the grass type. "Here ya go! Fresh water from the pond!"

"Bay!" Bayleef crooned. She peered into the bowl, and just as quickly, her smile faded. "Bay…"

"What's wrong?" Aiden asked. He too looked into the bowl, and his eyes widened when he saw there was just a thin layer of water inside. "What?! No way! I totally filled up that bowl! Where did all the water go?"

Bayleef looked around the boy and let out a squeak. Moving her head forward, she nudged Aiden's arm, alerting the boy. "Bay! Bay!"

Aiden raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder. He saw his father, still tending to Tauros, only now he was shirtless and had a head full of dripping hair.

"Oops," Aiden murmured, glancing at Bayleef with a frown on his face. " _Maybe_ I shoulda been more careful when I was bringing it back over."

Bayleef snickered and licked Aiden's cheek, earning a tepid smile from the boy.

"Thanks, Bayleef," Aiden breathed. "I guess Daddy was right. There is a lot more to being a good trainer than just being good at battling!"

"Bay?" Bayleef prodded, narrowing her eyes.

"Oh, yeah," Aiden relented. "You were right too!"

Bayleef puffed her chest out proudly, getting another laugh out of the young boy.

"You two having fun?"

Aiden spun around and beamed at his father. "Yeah! Except…I'm sorry I got water all over you, Daddy."

Ash smirked and shrugged his bare shoulders. "It happens. Felt kind of good, actually! It's pretty hot out here."

Aiden nodded in agreement. "That's why I told Bayleef to stay here while I got her water! So she could get lots of sun for her leaves!"

"Right, that's very good for her," Ash replied, winking at his son. "I'm glad you listen to me sometimes!"

"I listen to you _all_ the time, Daddy," Aiden refuted.

"Agree to disagree," Ash teased.

Aiden, however, responded with a deadpan face. "I don't know what that means."

Ash chuckled and reached down to ruffle the boy's hair. "Don't worry about it, champ. You want to go inside and take a little break?"

"Yeah, I'm thirsty," Aiden complained.

"You took care of that one for me," Ash teased, sticking his tongue out as a drop of water fell from his dark bangs. Aiden laughed wildly, while Bayleef grunted and rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, that was funny!"

Bayleef shifted her eyes away as she unleashed one of her vines, quickly whipping it against Ash's leg.

"Hey, my boy liked it," Ash challenged, to which Aiden nodded. "We've gotta work on your sense of humor, Bayleef!"

The leaf Pokémon snorted and shook her head. She may have loved her trainer, but that didn't mean she loved his lame jokes.

* * *

 **Bayleef loves Ash but not his cheesy lines. Sound like anyone else we know? ;)**


	17. The Littlest Lab Partners

**I can't believe summer is almost over. That makes me so sad, even though all the seasons at this point are kind of the same for me (I work every day, no more school...it's still weird) but I like the warm weather and longer days!**

 **Anyway, since I'm still in this super light, happy mood, I decided to upload this cute and fluffy one shot featuring one of my favorite characters interacting with the baby twins...because it's just so much fun to write.**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 5 months old**

* * *

 **The Littlest Lab Partners**

Professor Oak's lab was one of Ash and Misty's favorite places to take the twins.

Not only did the professor adore the babies, but their Uncle Tracey worked there as his right hand assistant, and of course he loved Aiden and Michelle as well. The two of them frequently took breaks from their work in order to play with the babies or pay them special attention. Professor Oak was especially fond of spoiling them. He treated Aiden and Michelle no differently than his own great-grandson, and almost every time Ash and Misty brought the little ones over, Professor Oak had a new gift for them.

Today, it was a pair of stuffed Pokémon: a Plusle for Aiden and a Minun for Michelle.

"I know it seems a bit cliché, but I couldn't help myself!" Professor Oak chuckled, watching as the twins examined their new toys. "Those two really do remind me of a pair of Plusle and Minun. Always together and so cheerful."

Misty giggled at the very idea. "I don't know if they're _always_ so cheerful! Around you they are. They love you, Professor!"

Professor Oak smiled and reached over to pat both children on the head. Michelle looked up curiously at him, the tip of one of Minun's ears in her mouth. Aiden, on the other hand, was too busy poking at Plusle's face to pay the professor any mind.

"How sweet," Professor Oak laughed, standing back up straight.

"Professor!"

Ash came running into the living room, a huge smile on his face. "I just gaveTorkoal that new food you suggested for him. He loved it!"

"Excellent!" Professor Oak crowed. "I'm glad to hear it!"

Turning his attention onto his wife, Ash continued, "Misty, you should come outside. Tracey is observing the water types and he's noticing all this really cool stuff! I think you'd find it really interesting."

"I would love to, Ash, but I can't just leave the babies here alone," Misty replied with a frown.

"So bring them with you!"

"They're about to go down for a nap," Misty sighed, shaking her head. "And messing up their schedule is a definite no-no."

Ash looked rather disappointed, and Professor Oak couldn't help but to smile. "I could stay here with them, Misty."

Misty blinked hard and turned towards the researcher. "Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that, Professor."

"Nonsense, I insist!" Professor Oak guffawed. "To be perfectly honest, I've been delaying work on my latest book, and I really should sit down and focus on it. If I stay here with the twins, that'll give me the opportunity to do just that."

Misty thought about it for a moment before smiling at the professor. "If you're sure…that sounds wonderful!"

She bent down and lifted the twins up in her arms, carrying them over to the playpen in the corner that was typically used for Gary's son Sam. Misty placed both of them inside, smiling as they kept themselves occupied with their new stuffed Pokémon.

"I won't be gone for long," Misty assured the researcher as she stood back up to her full height.

"Please, take all the time you'd like," Professor Oak replied with a smile. "Aiden and Michelle are safe here with me!"

"Of course I know that," Misty giggled. Looking over her shoulder, Misty addressed the babies, "you two behave for Professor Oak, okay? No causing any trouble!"

Neither baby looked up at their mother; both were still too busy with their toys.

"I'm sure they won't," Professor Oak chuckled. "Have fun, you two!"

Once Ash and Misty left the room, Professor Oak walked over to the playpen and leaned over to watch the twins. Michelle was still chewing at one of Minun's ears, while Aiden was repeatedly pressing down on Plusle's face.

"I must admit, it is fascinating to watch you two together," Professor Oak mused. "Born at the same time, from the same parents, and you're still infants, but already you're so different from one another!"

Aiden finally stopped examining Plusle and reached out towards his sister with the toy, pushing against her side. Michelle released Minun's ear and started to whine, reaching out towards her brother and trying to swat his toy away. Professor Oak chuckled, and succeeded in getting both babies to look up at him.

"Sibling rivalry already I see," Professor Oak playfully mused. "Your mother and father certainly have their hands full, don't they?"

Aiden squealed and threw himself down, Michelle tumbling down after him. Professor Oak hummed, standing back to his full height.

"Ah right, Misty said it was just about your nap time," Professor Oak breathed. "I'm sure me hanging over you two isn't helping to send you both off to sleep! I'll go start my work and give you two some quiet time."

The researcher walked away from the playpen and instead sat down at his desk in the opposite corner, turning the computer there on. Sprawled across the top of the desk, in addition to the computer's keyboard, were several open and bookmarked textbooks, scrap paper full of notes, and a collection of well-used spiral notebooks. He thought with age, it would become easier to sit himself down and focus solely on his work, but if anything, it had only become harder.

Just as the computer was booting up, Professor Oak heard something shuffling behind him. Looking over his shoulder, his eyes widened when he realized the gray playpen was slowly inching away from the wall.

"Oh my," Professor Oak murmured, getting up from his seat and hurrying back over to the playpen. He peered over and found Aiden up on his knees, pushing at the mesh side of the pen. Michelle was sitting by watching him, holding the stuffed Minun in one hand and Plusle in the other.

"Where do you think you're going?" Professor Oak asked playfully. Aiden looked up at him and cooed, tilting his head to the side. "Are you trying to run off?"

Aiden giggled and sat back, placing his hands in his lap.

"Now you're playing innocent," Professor Oak laughed. "Your daddy did the same thing as a baby, you know. He'd do something naughty and then pretend he didn't do a thing!"

Aiden giggled again and reached forward, trying to push up against the side of the playpen like before.

"No no!" Professor Oak laughed, gently pulling the boy's hands away. "Remember what your mother said? It's time to take a nap! Once you wake up, you can play all you want."

Aiden mumbled softly and blinked his wide, brown eyes. Michelle, on the other hand, showed off a big yawn before sprawling herself out on the bottom of the playpen, this time actually showing signs of preparing to nap.

"Ah, you see?" Professor Oak questioned, nodding towards the little girl. "Your sister is heading off to sleep! Why don't you join her?"

Aiden just kept staring at the man. Professor Oak sighed and stood up to his full height, folding his arms across his chest. "I think I'm entertaining you too much. Back to my work I go! Get some rest, little one."

As the professor walked away, Aiden stared at his back, watching him as he sat back down at the desk. After a few seconds, Aiden began to push against the side of the playpen once again, doing his best to inch it up. He eventually succeeded, but the sound of the playpen skidding across the wooden floor got Professor Oak to jump out of his seat all over again.

"Oh, Aiden…"

Before the baby could process what was going on, he was being lifted out of the playpen. Michelle, who was still lying down, simply gazed up with curious eyes. Aiden whined softly as Professor Oak held him against his chest, trying to wiggle his way out of the researcher's arms.

"You certainly did inherit every little bit of your father, didn't you?" Professor Oak questioned. "I feel like I've been sent back 21 years in the past!"

Aiden let out a desolate moan and threw his head back, expressing his true feelings about being restrained.

"Oh, you're not happy, are you?" Professor Oak crooned, carrying the boy over to his desk. "Sam does the same exact thing as you when he's not getting his way! I really think you two will be excellent friends when you get a little older."

Aiden groaned as the researcher sat down in his chair, sitting the grouchy baby down on his lap.

"I'm sorry, but I can't leave you out of my sight," Professor Oak apologized with a frown. "I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something happened to you while my back was turned. It would be a different story if you were taking a nap, but you don't seem very interested in that."

The baby continued to whine, but slowly began to quiet down when he saw the plethora of objects sitting on the desk in front of him.

"So you can help me focus on my work!" Professor Oak declared, smiling down at the baby. "This book isn't going to write itself, after all…as much as I wish it would!"

Aiden babbled and reached for one of the colorful highlighters that had caught his attention. Professor Oak took notice and picked up the yellow one, handing it off to the infant. Once Aiden had the highlighter in his hands, he squealed happily and began shaking it up and down.

"You like that?" Professor Oak chuckled. "I'm glad!"

The boy leaned back against the researcher, sticking the end of the highlighter in his mouth and thoughtfully chewing on the plastic tube. His bright brown eyes floated up towards the illuminated computer screen, and that quickly became even more interesting than the highlighter. Aiden slowly stopped his chewing, allowing the highlighter to slip out of his mouth as he used one hand to point at the screen.

"Ah?" He squeaked.

"Hmm?" Professor Oak hummed. "What is it? You see something?"

Aiden continued to point at the screen, babbling more nonsense that caused Professor Oak to laugh.

"You like the computer, huh?" He asked. "Even more than that highlighter I just gave you?"

The little boy glanced down thoughtfully at the yellow highlighter in his other hand before carelessly chucking it on the floor.

"I guess so," Professor Oak laughed nervously.

Aiden cooed, lowering his pointing arm while keeping his eyes on the screen. He tilted his head to the side, staring at the lighted screen with uninterruptable interest. With silence now achieved, Professor Oak resumed his book work, hoping that if he focused on that and stopped talking to Aiden so much, the boy would finally fall asleep.

And luckily for the researcher, that seemed to do the trick.

Within a matter of minutes, Aiden was fast asleep, his head lolling to the point where it was basically resting on his shoulder. Professor Oak took one look at the baby and smiled. Not only was he happy that his plan had worked, but he couldn't help it. Aiden looked so cute fast asleep!

Just as the professor stood up to put the baby back in the playpen, his parents entered the room along with Tracey. As soon as she saw her son sleeping against the professor, Misty giggled softly and strode over to the older man.

"You got him to fall asleep!" Misty marveled.

"It took a bit of work, but it paid off in the end," Professor Oak chuckled.

"Here, I'll put him down for you," Misty offered, taking the sleeping baby from the professor and cradling him in her arms. "Oh, aren't you just the most handsome boy?"

"Hey," Ash whined, throwing in a pout for added effect.

Misty giggled again and gently stroked the baby's black hair. "Daddy doesn't get that he's a _man_ and not a _boy_ because he doesn't act like one."

Ash narrowed his eyes at his wife, who turned towards him at the exact same time and playfully stuck her tongue out.

"You were asking for it," she quipped before moving towards the playpen.

"I always am," Ash grumbled, rolling his eyes.

Misty put Aiden down and smiled at him once more, rubbing his forehead as she glanced over at Michelle. The little girl was fast asleep as well, gripping both the stuffed Plusle and Minun in either of her hands.

"Professor, I swear, you're like a baby whisperer," Misty complimented, standing back up to her full height and turning away from the playpen.

"Oh no, I'm certainly not _that_ good!" Professor Oak refuted.

"I find that hard to believe," Misty remarked. "It can be next to impossible to get Aiden to take a nap!"

"Well, I did discover a little trick that helped out," Professor Oak admitted.

"Really?" Misty questioned, her eyes widening. "You have to tell me! I'd love to know how you did it!"

"It's something I should've thought of from the start," Professor Oak chuckled as he motioned towards his desk.

"A big mess?" Ash asked, nearly sending everyone to the floor.

"No, not that!" Professor Oak cried, embarrassed both by the idea _and_ the fact he'd left that unsightly clutter in plain sight. "I meant the computer. Aiden really seemed to like the light from the screen!"

"Oh, I see," Tracey breathed. "That makes a lot of sense! Babies usually are easily transfixed by things that light up or are interactive. It's why things like phones and TVs are so appealing to them!"

"I can't believe I never thought of that before," Misty mused. "Maybe I should try letting Aiden watch some TV before I put him down for his naps."

"Something tells me you'll regret that pretty quickly," Ash sighed.

"Why?" Misty questioned.

"You know; vivid dreams, hyping him up…that kind of stuff," Ash replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Are you speaking from experience?" Misty playfully asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Ash replied guilelessly. "I used to sneak in a lot of TV before bedtime when I was a kid. That was _never_ a good idea. Every time I did that, I had some wild dreams. And that's _always_ how Mom found out I'd been watching it!"

"Only you," Misty muttered.

"Well, now that the twins are finally asleep, I think I'll finally try and get some work done on my book!" Professor Oak announced, catching the attention of the three younger adults.

"Professor, I thought you said you were going to do that before," Ash piped up.

"Oh, I was," Professor Oak confirmed, nodding his head. "But…that didn't work out so well."

"Really?" Ash asked. "How come?"

"I thought staying here with the twins while they settled down would get me to focus better," Professor Oak laughed nervously. "But I got a little too distracted by them to actually focus on the work!"

"Oh Professor," Tracey sighed.

"I'm so sorry!" Misty gasped. "If I had known they would be such a distraction, I would've stayed here!"

"Don't worry about it, Misty," Professor Oak assured. "This book is already behind anyway. Not the twins' fault! In fact, maybe I should take a cue from them and try to take my own nap…"

"But Professor, the book!" Tracey cried.

"It'll get done eventually," Professor Oak chuckled, waving his hand.

Tracey smacked a hand against his forehead, while Ash started to laugh.

"You sure do learn a lot from those two, don't you, Professor?" Ash questioned.

"I do!" Professor Oak agreed. "They're some of the best lab partners I've ever had the pleasure of working with!"

* * *

 **I always mentally compare Aiden and Michelle to Plusle and Minun. Especially since the two are their favorite colors (red for Aiden and blue for Michelle, hence why Aiden had Plusle and Michelle had Minun)**


	18. Attached

**Elizabeth and Aiden have both gotten some focus over the past few stories, so I decided to choose one that focused more on Michelle this time!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 2 years old**

* * *

 **Attached**

Ash jumped a little when he felt something attach itself to his side.

When he looked down, however, he realized it was just his young daughter hugging him. Ash chuckled, causing the little girl to glance up at him with wide, emerald eyes and a big smile.

"Aw, you're so sweet, Shelly!" Ash cooed, patting the girl's head.

"I wove Daddy," Michelle babbled, still smiling up at him.

"I love you too!" Ash replied.

"Ash, are you guys ready to go?"

He looked over his shoulder at his wife and smiled, nodding his head. "Yep! Come on, Shelly. Time to head out!"

Michelle tilted her head. "Whewe?"

"We have to go meet Grammy for dinner!" Ash answered. "Remember we talked about it this morning? You and Aiden were very excited to see her."

"No, Gwammy come hewe," Michelle refuted, shaking her head.

"We're going to go out this time!" Ash tried. "That sounds like fun, right? You get to wear your nice dress and everything!"

Michelle pouted, while Misty let out a sound of warning. "Ash, she doesn't like to be dressed up. That isn't exactly a selling point."

"But look how pretty it is!" Ash fussed, motioning towards the crystal blue dress Michelle was wearing. The sleeveless top was made of lace, and the skirt was made of tulle. "It looks just like something a princess would wear! And you _are_ my little princess, right, Michelle?"

The little girl suddenly perked up and nodded her head.

"She gets it," Ash chuckled as he got off the couch. "Let's go, princess!"

Michelle frowned once again and shook her head.

"No?" Ash murmured.

"Up!" Michelle squeaked, holding her arms up towards her father.

"Oh, I get it," Ash breathed. "You don't want to walk! That's okay, I gotcha."

He gathered the little girl into his arms, which brought the smile back to her face. Misty was already beginning to look exasperated, but Ash knew it was mainly because she was always anxious about taking the twins out in public. They were pretty well behaved kids, but they were still kids, and the potential for meltdowns was always in the back of her mind.

"We'll be fine," Ash assured his wife. Turning towards the couch, he addressed both Pikachu and Vaporeon. "And you two will be just fine watching the house, right?"

"Pika, pikapi!" Pikachu confirmed.

"Vay," Vaporeon purred in agreement.

Ash grinned in response. Both Pokemon had already been fed and were perfectly content. They didn't mind staying behind in some peace and quiet.

"See?" Ash prodded his wife. "Just fine!"

"Stop saying it, you're going to jinx us," Misty groaned.

"Jinx us?" Ash repeated with a laugh. "Now how could I do that?"

 **XXX**

"AAAAAH!"

Misty shot her husband a vicious look from the passanger seat. "Like _that._ "

As it would turn out, Michelle had not wanted to leave her father's grasp, and as soon as she was placed in her car seat, she'd started screaming bloody murder and had yet to stop. Aiden was quietly watching her from his own seat, seemingly impressed by his sister's dedication to the tantrum.

"Michelle, I told you I can hold you again when we get out of the car!" Ash yelled over her wailing. "But I can't do that while I'm driving…"

That did nothing to placate the toddler. She continued her blubbering, and Ash just sighed and narrowed his eyes.

The couple's only saving grace was that the restaurant wasn't far from their house. Misty had chosen a place in downtown Cerulean named Kaigara that was nicer but still on the casual side. She knew it was important for the twins' sake, as well as her and Ash's sanity, to go somewhere that wasn't too stuffy and had a decent food selection for them. She and Ash liked the place themselves, which was a bonus.

Ash found a spot on the street and parked there, eager to get out and hopefully stop Michelle's bawling. He all but jumped out of the car as soon as it was parked, racing to get to the back door. He managed to do all of this before Misty had even gotten out of her seat, which she would never admit to him she was impressed by. Aiden, on the other hand, just found the whole thing funny and started to laugh as soon as his father opened up the door on Michelle's side and poked his head through.

"Alright, no more fussing," Ash sighed, unbuckling Michelle's seatbelt. "I'm here, see?"

He lifted her out of her seat and, as soon as she was in his arms, Michelle quieted down. She put her head down on Ash's shoulder, acting as if she hadn't just freaked out for the entire car ride over.

Since Ash had his hands full with Michelle, Misty took it upon herself to get Aiden out of the car. He was usually the twin who caused the most trouble, so Misty was more than happy to deal with her pleasantly peaceful son instead of her cranky daughter.

"You're being a very good boy," Misty complimented her son, tickling his chest and causing him to giggle some more. "I'm so proud of you! Are you going to keep being a good boy inside the restaurant?"

"Uh huh!" Aiden chirped, rapidly nodding his head.

"Aw," Misty crooned, hugging him tightly. "That's my little guy!"

Ash raised an eyebrow and glanced down at Michelle, who still had her head resting on his shoulder. "What about you? You gonna be a good girl, Shelly?"

Michelle fluttered her eyelashes, but otherwise said nothing.

Ash and Misty carried the twins into the restaurant, where they found Delia already waiting for them in the lobby. Her eyes lit up as soon as they entered, and she was quick to jump up as soon as they got close enough.

"Hey, Mom!" Ash greeted.

"Hello!" Delia replied. "Oh, look at my little grandbabies! They look so precious all dressed up!"

She reached for Aiden's face and kissed his cheek. The little boy had basically no reaction, because he was distracted by a nearby aquarium full of small water types.

"Po-mon!" Aiden cried, pointing at the tank.

"What?" Misty questioned, following his arm. "Oh, you see Pokémon."

"Po-mon!" Aiden repeated.

"Why don't you take Aiden to see them?" Delia suggested. "I know how much he loves his Pokémon!"

"Are you sure?" Misty asked.

"Of course!" Delia replied. "We have all of dinner to spend together. Let him have of a bit of fun!"

"Well, he _has_ been behaving…" Misty mused before gazing down at her son. "You want to get a closer look?"

Aiden nodded his head, still pointing at the tank. As Misty carried him over, Delia approached Ash, smiling at her granddaughter. That smile disappeared, however, when she realized the little girl's face was quite red.

"Oh my, has she been crying?" Delia fussed, reaching into her bag as Ash raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Ash answered. "How could you tell?"

Delia pulled out a clean tissue, gently cleaning Michelle's eyes and nose. "Ash, I'm a mother _and_ a grandmother. I know full well what a child who's been crying looks like!"

"I didn't cry _that_ much," Ash scoffed.

"No, but you cried enough that I can tell," Delia challenged, bringing a blush to her son's face. "Now, what got my little sweetheart so worked up?"

"She's being really clingy with me today," Ash sighed. "It was super cute at home when she was being all snuggly and giving me tons of hugs! But when we got in the car, and she had to sit in the back away from me…it wasn't good."

"Aw, so she just wanted to be with her daddy," Delia crooned. "That's precious!"

"I guess…" Ash muttered, sounding unsure.

The group was soon being called to their table, Ash holding his breath as soon as he saw the two highchairs already set up. He had a sneaking suspicion that as soon as he put Michelle down she'd start freaking out again. Once he sat her down, however, she was instantly drawn to her paper menu and crayons. She began to scribble away, and didn't make a peep. Ash let out a sigh of relief before slinking away to his own seat.

"This place is beautiful," Delia commented as Misty sat down beside her. "I can't believe I've never been here before!"

"It's one of my favorite restaurants in Cerulean, which is saying a lot," Misty replied. "There are so many good ones, especially downtown! But I really think they have some of the best food."

"I might need a recommendation then," Delia mused. "This is quite the expansive menu!"

"They make an awesome burger," Ash commented, his eyes scanning his own menu. "The steak is really good too. Oh, and so is the seafood pasta!"

Misty smirked and leaned over. "In case it wasn't obvious, Ash likes everything here too."

Delia giggled at the comment. "Sounds like my son alright!"

"Pwetty Denny, pwetty Denny…"

The adults looked over towards the toddlers, and Misty's eyes widened almost instantly. Michelle had taken one of her crayons to Aiden's white and mint green striped polo shirt and was attempting to color in the sleeve. Aiden was watching her with a big smile on his face, excited by the prospect of being his twin's canvas.

"Uh uh, no!" Misty warned, getting up from her seat and gently guiding Michelle's hand back to the paper menu in front of her. "Michelle, do not color on your brother."

The little girl whimpered and frowned up at her mother. Misty was not deterred, however, and gave her daughter a final look of warning before heading back to her own seat.

"Michelle can never keep her crayons to herself," Ash chuckled. "The whole world might as well be a coloring book to her!"

"She's already colored all over our nice white walls," Misty sighed, shaking her head. "It took me _hours_ to get it all off."

"It's okay, though," Ash continued, causing Misty's eye to twitch. "She just wants to be creative is all! Michelle really likes coloring. Maybe she'll even grow up and become a famous artist!"

"Maybe, but it'd be a lot better if she didn't practice on the walls," Misty groaned.

"It only happened one time," Ash calmly countered.

"Easy for you to say when you didn't have to clean it up," Misty growled.

Delia laughed nervously, sensing that the two were about to get into one of their famous dust ups. "Kids certainly can be a handful! But they're definitely worth it, I'd say."

Misty reluctantly smiled, knowing exactly what her mother-in-law was up to. "For sure. Aiden and Michelle may drive me crazy sometimes, but I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world."

And then, as if to test _that_ declaration, Michelle burst into tears, wailing much like she had in the car on their way to the restraunt. Delia let out a soft gasp and covered her heart, while Misty frowned and got back up to return to her daughter.

"What's the matter?" Misty crooned, kneeling down beside the girl's highchair. "Are you mad at Mommy for stopping you from coloring on Aiden?"

Michelle just kept blubbering, not bothering to even shake or nod her head in response to her mother's question.

"Come on, Michelle, don't cry," Misty murmured. "There's no reason to be so upset! I'm not mad, you know. I just didn't want you to get your brother all messy! But you can color on your menu all you want!"

Still, Michelle continued to cry. Misty stood back up to her full height and crossed her arms, looking rather dejected.

"Why won't she listen to me?" Misty grumbled to herself, although Delia and Ash had both heard her. "Michelle, if you don't stop, I'm going to have to take you outside. Do you want to go outside and take a little break?"

More sobbing. With a frustrated growl, Misty lifted Michelle out of the highchair and held her in her arms, preparing to carry her out. That only riled the little girl up _more_. Michelle's howling increased dramatically, to the point where Misty was basically paralyzed in mortification.

"Poor thing," Delia breathed. "Maybe she's just tired. Would you like me to take her for a quick walk?"

Before Misty could reply, Ash got up and took the screeching toddler from his wife with little effort. As soon as Ash had her in his grasp, Michelle silenced herself and nestled her head against his chest.

"Seriously?" Misty deadpanned.

"I told you, she's being clingy," Ash sighed, glancing down at the now content child.

Misty groaned and pressed the heels of her palms against her eyes. "Is this phase _ever_ going to end?"

"Hard to say, considering it only started like an hour ago," Ash mused.

Misty threw her arms down to her sides, her eyes narrowed. "I meant this whole 'terrible twos' phase."

"Oh," Ash murmured. "Well, yeah! Once they turn 3!"

The gym leader whimpered and threw her head back. "That's _months_ from now!"

Delia smiled sympathetically and grabbed a hold of the slender leather menu that had previously been perched in the center of the table. "Would you two like me to pick out a bottle of wine?"

"Wove Daddy," Michelle mumbled, snuggling up more deeply against her flustered father.

"Please," Misty groaned.

* * *

 **I'm dedicating this chapter to the most fantastic news that Misty and Brock are coming to Sun and Moon in just a few weeks! I found out last night and pretty much cried over the news. This is something I've personally been waiting for FOREVER...so these 2 episodes are going to be sooo great!**

 **Best. News. Ever.**


	19. Tooth and Scare

**This is one of my favorites that I've written lately. I always love writing Ash and Elizabeth, and slightly older Elizabeth actually makes it even more fun because you can see even more of the Ash/Misty in her :P**

 **Elizabeth: 6 years old**

* * *

 **Tooth and Scare**

Ash stood on his hands and knees on the living room floor, staring deeply into the ever-so slightly narrowed eyes of his 6 year old daughter. She was sitting with her back against the couch, a mischievous smirk playing on her lips.

"You sure look confident," Ash teased, leading Elizabeth to cock an eyebrow. "You really think you can stand up to the world's most powerful Venusaur?"

"I _know_ I can!" Elizabeth cheered, leaning forward as she pressed her little palms against the floor. "Because I'm the world's strongest Charizard! And I'm even better than you cause I'm a fire type!"

Pikachu and Vaporeon were lazily watching the two from on top of the couch. They couldn't help but to be fascinated by the fact that the humans they lived with tended to like pretending to battle each other like they were actually Pokémon. It seemed silly to them, but it sure made the littlest humans happy, so who were they to judge?

Well…judge too much, at least.

With one last laugh, Ash roared and jumped at Elizabeth, who squealed laughingly. She managed to crawl out of the way, Ash nearly colliding headfirst with the couch. Pikachu and Vaporeon both snickered, causing Ash to look up with a sheepish sideways smile.

"Gotcha!"

Ash whipped his head around as soon as he felt the small weight land on his back. Elizabeth was grinning widely at him, obviously proud of herself for having managed to sneak up on her father.

"Oh yeah?" Ash teased. "What're you gonna do now?"

Elizabeth started to think about it, and that's when Ash tilted his body to the side, sending Elizabeth tumbling off of him towards the floor. "Oops! Took you too long!"

Elizabeth shook her head out and popped back up, scowling at her father. "Hey! That's no fair!"

"Of course it is," Ash refuted. "You've got to think fast when you're in a battle!"

Elizabeth growled and jumped at her father. Ash saw her coming right towards his face and, in a moment of panic, blocked it with his arm. Elizabeth collided face-first with the limb, bouncing right off and landing squarely on her behind. Pikachu and Vaporeon both got to their paws, worriedly staring at the little girl. Ash, on the other hand, gasped and threw his arm down, staring at his daughter in concern.

"Lizzie, are you okay?!" Ash cried.

The little girl slowly looked up at him and nodded her head.

"Thank goodness," Ash sighed, holding a hand over his heart. "I thought I really hurt you for a second! And I'd never want to hurt my baby girl."

"I'm okay, Daddy!" Elizabeth assured him, flashing another big smile. "See?"

And Ash would have believed it if Elizabeth _hadn't_ smiled. Because as soon as she did, he saw that there was a big gap on the bottom left side of her mouth, where one of her central incisors was supposed to be. Ash tried hard to keep a stoic face, but his internal alarm was threatening to break his static expression.

"Uh…nothing hurts?" Ash questioned.

Elizabeth shook her head before stopping to think for a moment. "No…but my mouth tastes kinda funny."

"Funny?" Ash repeated, his voice nearly coming out as a squeak.

"Yeah," Elizabeth replied, sounding far more confused than frightened. "Like metal!"

Ash sucked in a sharp breath. He knew _exactly_ what that taste was: blood. Elizabeth was tasting blood in her mouth.

As he silently freaked out, Elizabeth looked down and furrowed her brow once something caught her attention. "Hey, what's this?"

She reached down and picked up the object of interest: a small white square coated with a thin layer of red at the very bottom. Ash pulled his shoulders back, while Elizabeth moved it closer to her face and tilted her head.

"It looks like a tooth," Elizabeth commented aloud.

"Um…heh…yeah…it does…a little…" Ash stammered, nervously turning his gaze.

Elizabeth studied the square for another moment before opening her mouth and poking at the exact spot where the gap was present. As soon as her little finger slipped between the two teeth that were still there, Elizabeth's eyes widened.

"My tooth fell out!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"I'm so sorry, Lizzie!" Ash began profusely apologizing, worried that his daughter was about to get _very_ upset. "I didn't mean for that to happen! I feel so awful!"

Elizabeth didn't respond. She was still busy poking the now empty spot in her mouth.

"The good news is it's only a baby tooth!" Ash continued, trying desperately to redeem himself. "A new tooth will grow back! You don't even have to do anything!"

"Daddy…" Elizabeth began, but was quickly cut off by her father.

"I still feel really awful about it," Ash carried on, grabbing onto his head with his hands. "This is all my fault. I'm going to make it up to you, pumpkin, I promise! I'll take you out to your favorite restaurant for dinner, and I'll buy you a new toy…whatever you want. You just tell me and I'll make it happen!"

"Daddy!" Elizabeth practically shouted, anxious to get him to stop prattling on. "You didn't do anything!"

Ash stared at her in disbelief for a short second before crying, "Yes I did! I knocked out your tooth! Your _first_ baby tooth!"

"I guess," Elizabeth replied, scrunching up her nose. "But it was already coming out."

Ash lowered his hands, blinking his eyes. "Wait…what?"

"It was loose," Elizabeth calmly continued, holding up the tooth for further emphasis as Ash felt his entire mental psyche fall apart.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a loose tooth?!" Ash practically wailed.

"I forgot," Elizabeth chirped, shrugging her shoulders.

Ash groaned and sunk down to the floor. "I can't believe this."

"You were really scared!" Elizabeth noted with a little laugh. "You really thought you knocked out my tooth, Daddy!"

Ash just continued lying there, not saying a word. Pikachu and Vaporeon leaned forward a bit to get a better look at the broken man. They found it pretty impressive that the world's most powerful Pokémon trainer could be totally brought to his knees by a 6 year old girl. Their respect for Elizabeth was understandably high.

In the midst of it all, Misty walked through the front door, grocery bags in hand. She took one look at the scene in front of her and let out a tired sigh, catching the attention of Elizabeth and the two Pokémon. Ash didn't bother to move.

"Do I want to know?" Misty questioned, her eyes shifting between her husband and daughter.

"I lost my first tooth, Mommy!" Elizabeth announced, getting to her feet and running over to a stunned Misty. The little girl proudly held out the aforementioned tooth, which Misty bent down to examine.

"Oh, you did!" Misty breathed, her whole face lighting up. "This is so exciting!"

"That means the tooth fairy is gonna come, right?" Elizabeth asked.

"That's right!" Misty confirmed cheerfully. Her eyes drifted back towards Ash, who she was surprised hadn't jumped into the exchange yet. As it would turn out, he was still lying face down on the floor. "Ash, what's up with you? Are you _that_ overcome with emotion?"

When Ash just groaned in response, Elizabeth helpfully informed her mother, "Daddy thought he knocked my tooth out cause I forgot to tell him it was loose."

A look of surprise crossed Misty's face. "Why would Daddy think _he_ knocked your tooth out?"

"Cause we were playing and he hit me in the face," Elizabeth casually responded, as though that were a completely normal answer.

Misty's eyes widened, and Ash's head finally snapped up. "It wasn't on purpose! It was an accident!"

"What were you two playing that Elizabeth ended up getting hit in the face?!" Misty demanded.

"Pokémon battle," Elizabeth giggled slyly.

Misty sighed and squeezed the bridge of her nose. "That's exactly why I hate that stupid game! Someone always ends up getting hurt!"

"Nuh uh," Elizabeth refuted, furrowing her brow. "It's fun and I never get hurt!"

"Daddy accidentally hit you in the face, Elizabeth."

"Yeah, but it didn't hurt."

Misty rolled her eyes as she threw her head back. "Whatever. It's over and done with. That tooth was coming out anyway, so I suppose it's no big deal. Let's try and cut back on that little game, shall we?"

Elizabeth grimaced and looked over at her father, who finally offered up a wry smile. "Sure thing, Mist."

Misty seemed satisfied with the response and went turned to walk into the kitchen. Once her back was turned, Ash glanced down at Elizabeth and mouthed the words _"just kidding,"_ causing the little girl to giggle.

"Lizzie, what are you laughing at?" Misty asked from the next room.

"Nothing, Mommy!" Elizabeth effortlessly fibbed. Dancing towards the doorway on her tippy toes, Elizabeth leaned in and continued, "Daddy said we could go out for special dinner cause I lost my tooth."

Ash's smile disappeared just as quickly as it had come on, and he leapt to his feet. "No, I only said that when I thought I knocked a perfectly good tooth out! I didn't want you to be upset!"

"He said he'd buy me a new toy too," Elizabeth added, not even bothering to look back at her father.

Misty reappeared in the doorway, once again looking unimpressed. "Really? After I just went out to buy all this stuff for dinner tonight?"

"I just said I only promised it because I thought I hurt her," Ash sheepishly parroted, realizing the second time around just how bad that sounded.

"But it's a big deal!" Elizabeth cried. "I only get to lose my first tooth just one time! So I think we should have fun."

Misty thought about it for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "Alright, fine. I guess I can save this stuff for tomorrow."

"Yay!" Elizabeth cheered. "Thank you, Mommy!"

"You should thank Daddy," Misty replied, nodding towards her stunned husband. "He's the one who offered you a nice dinner!"

Elizabeth spun around and jumped at her father, attaching herself to his legs. "Thank you, Daddy! I love you!"

Ash chuckled softly and lifted the girl up in his arms. "Don't mention it, pumpkin. I love you too!"

He gave her a kiss on the forehead before placing the excited child back on the floor.

"I'm gonna put on a pretty dress!" Elizabeth declared, charging towards the staircase.

"Elizabeth, make sure you put that tooth somewhere safe!" Misty yelled. "Don't lose it!"

"I will!" Elizabeth promised, her voice sounding faint as she scurried up the stairs.

Once she was gone, Ash sighed and shot his wife a sympathetic look. "Sorry for messing up your dinner plans."

"It's fine," Misty assured him, sounding completely genuine. "I'm just glad you didn't mess up our daughter's mouth."

"I told you it was an accident!" Ash groaned.

"I know you did, and I know it was," Misty replied. "But I'm still glad."

Ash grumbled incoherently and ran a hand through his wild raven locks. "Between dinner, a new toy, and the tooth fairy money…knocking a loose tooth out shouldn't cost me so much money."

Misty slowly nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah. Maybe next time don't play that stupid game and your wallet will escape unscathed."

* * *

 **This is the same game Aiden and Michelle always play together. Ash was never a fan of it, until he started playing along...Misty is frustrated by the whole thing, obviously.**


	20. All Hail Molly Hale

**Happy "Brock and Misty Are Back in the Anime Day" everyone! I've been waiting for this day since this episodes were announced (and honestly way before then, too) and I can't wait to finally watch the first installment! I've looked at lots of pictures though and I am seriously excited.**

 **So, I figured why not give another shot of nostalgia today, as if the new episode wasn't enough? If the anime is really gonna celebrate 20 years today, then so are we! Here's to nostalgia!**

* * *

 ** **All Hail Molly Hale****

It had been pretty surprising for a number of people when a certain honey blonde teenager showed up at Professor Oak's door one summer afternoon.

Molly Hale, the daughter of renowned researchers Diana and Spencer Hale, had left on a Pokémon journey at 10 years old, just as she had desired as a child. She'd actually been pretty successful; she was frequently mentioned in trainer magazines and seen on TV shows. The girl seemed to really enjoy what she was doing, too.

That's why it was so shocking when she showed up at Professor Oak's lab.

As it turned out, Molly really was enjoying being a Pokémon trainer, but she was beginning to become more interested in Pokémon research like her parents. She decided she wanted to study with Professor Oak, like her father had done (he and her mother were the ones who had given her the idea in the first place), and decide what she might be most interested in researching.

For what it was worth, Professor Oak was more than happy to become Molly's teacher. He had her help out all around the lab and out in the fields. He'd give her textbooks to read and videos to watch. He even enlisted the help of Tracey, who Molly had become quite taken by. She was fascinated by his artwork and all of the unique things he noticed about all different Pokémon.

The citizens of Pallet Town, who remembered Spencer Hale both as a former student of the professor's and from the infamous Greenfield incident, immediately recognized Molly. She had been a bit worried about the reception at first, but was pleasantly surprised by how warmly they'd all welcomed her. People would come directly to the lab once they'd heard she was there, bringing over freshly baked goods for her to enjoy.

The fact that Delia Ketchum lived right down the road didn't hurt either. Molly adored the woman, and Delia felt the same way about the girl. She always made sure to check up on Molly, and would frequently invite the teen to her home for dinner. Very often, whenever she had some time to herself, Molly would go to Delia's house to help her out with her garden or some chores. Delia insisted it wasn't necessary, but Molly asserted that she enjoyed it and loved helping out. Even Mimey enjoyed having her around and didn't fuss about having to share his responsibilities.

One sunny morning, Molly was busy browsing Professor Oak's bookshelves. She had watched Tracey clean the water type Pokémon the day before, and was now interested in reading and learning more about them. She had a few water types herself, but all the facts that Tracey had been telling her were things that Molly never knew. So, she thought it'd be interesting to read more about them.

As her blue eyes scanned the spines, Molly found one on a relatively high shelf that featured the title _"The Nature of Water Types."_ Beaming, Molly reached for the book, but the sudden sound of a bell ringing alarmed her and caused her hand to slip. Instead, Molly ended up knocking several books off the shelf, sending them to the floor with a series of loud thuds. The girl doubly jumped at that, groaning as soon as she'd settled down and realized the mess she made.

"Professor?" Molly called, walking out of the room and peering down the stairs towards the foyer. Professor Oak normally answered the door, but she didn't see him anywhere. "Tracey?"

Still no response. Shrugging her shoulders, Molly scurried down the stairs towards the front door. She didn't want to keep whoever was out there waiting, and figured she could always have them wait around until Professor Oak or Tracey showed up. Grabbing the knob, Molly pulled the door back and put on her best and brightest smile. That smile quickly disappeared, however, when she locked eyes with the newly arrived visitor.

"…M-Molly?!"

The girl recoiled ever so slightly and managed a much more timid smile. "Yeah, it's me. Hi…uh…Pokémon Master?"

The raven haired man on the other side of the door chuckled. It was a bit of a nervous one, but he was beginning to loosen up to some extent already. "You can still call me Ash. I think I'd prefer it if you did, actually."

Confusion crossed Molly's face. "Why? You don't like being the Pokémon Master?"

"No, I do," Ash refuted. "I just still want to be a normal person, ya know? I don't really think I'm any different than before I was the Pokémon Master."

Molly cleared her throat a bit. She couldn't really respond to that comment, because she hadn't seen Ash in person in 11 years. And the last time she had…she'd stolen his mother away from him.

"So, did you come here for the professor?" Molly asked, eager to change the subject.

"Yep," Ash confirmed. "I wanted to show him some of the stuff I've been working on with my Pokémon."

"Oh," Molly breathed. "Well…I'm not sure where he is right now, to be honest. But you can wait inside for him if you want."

"Thanks," Ash sighed happily, Pikachu making a very similar sound of relief from the man's shoulder. "It's getting pretty hot out here!"

He walked in past Molly, who kept her eyes on him the whole time. He certainly wasn't the same 10 year old boy she'd seen last…in the looks department, at least. She had seen his picture splashed all over magazines and on TV, but in the flesh, it was so different. He was tall, and muscular, and actually quite handsome. She could see why girls fawned over him so much, although she certainly wouldn't consider herself one of them.

Molly closed the door and turned back around, surprised to see Ash still standing there. She thought he would've started heading upstairs already. But instead, he was just staring at her, now looking confused himself.

"What're you doing at the lab, Molly?" Ash asked.

Molly gently shrugged her shoulders. "I decided I wanted to learn more about Pokémon research, so my parents suggested I come study with Professor Oak."

"But you're a trainer, right?" Ash prodded. "I've seen you on TV a few times before."

Molly blushed at the mention, though she was smiling rather slyly. "Yeah, I am. And I'm pretty good at it. But…I don't know. I felt like doing something different. I love being a trainer, but I started to feel like all of my battles just felt the same. I didn't feel like I was _really_ being challenged. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Pokémon research is something I'd like to get involved with."

Ash nodded his head. "That makes sense! But still…if you don't train for too long, you might get rusty. We should battle!"

Molly's eyes widened in disbelief. "You would battle me? Just like that?"

"Well, yeah," Ash chuckled as though it were obvious. "Why wouldn't I?"

"You're the Pokémon Master," Molly stated plainly. "Why would you want to waste your time battling random trainers?"

"Because I don't think it's a waste of time," Ash replied. "I think you can learn a lot from any battle! I don't see much of a difference between a battle with a young trainer or a battle with a member of the Elite Four."

Molly blinked as Ash turned around and began heading up the stairs. She quickly shook her head and followed after the young man, intrigued by the fact that his personality seemed nearly identical to the way she remembered it. How was it possible that fame hadn't changed him at all?

"Whoa, that's some mess."

Molly was about to ask what he was talking about, but stopped and grimaced as soon as she realized he was staring at the pile of books on the floor. "Oh, yeah. I was looking for a specific book, but then you rang the doorbell, and I got startled, so…that happened."

Ash chuckled at the explanation. "Sorry I spooked ya!"

He knelt down and began gathering the books. Quickly feeling guilty that the Pokémon Master had suddenly decided to clean up her mess, Molly joined him and began picking up some of the books herself. Ash glanced up at the teen and smiled, amused by how much her personality _had_ changed.

"What kind of book were you looking for?" Ash asked.

"Something about water types," Molly sighed. "I want to learn more about them."

"Water types?" Ash repeated, his face lighting up. "I know someone who could teach you all about water types!"

Molly raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah!" Ash confirmed. "She knows more about water types than anyone else I know! I bet she knows _way_ more than a book, too."

"That'd be so cool!" Molly gushed, causing Ash to grin. There was that personality he remembered! "I love all Pokémon. I have so many different types, including water Pokémon. But I always want to learn more about them, and right now I'm super interested in water types!"

"Ash, are you in here?"

Pikachu's ears shot up and he jumped off of Ash's shoulder, scurrying straight out of the room. Molly looked around the man, ready to run after Pikachu, but stilled as soon as he started laughing.

"It's like she knew I was talking about her!" Ash laughed. "Yeah, Mist, I'm up the stairs!"

Molly sucked in a breath as the woman Ash had just called out appeared in the doorway. She knew who it was from the moment she heard Ash say her name, but Molly was still surprised to see the redhead again. It had been just as long since the last time she'd seen Ash, but the fact that they were actually together, married in fact, still kind of threw Molly for a loop. She would've never guessed _that_ in a million years. They hadn't seemed to like each other like that.

The again, it could've just been because she was 5 years old the last time she saw them.

Misty was carrying Pikachu in her arms, who seemed quite content to be there. Once she saw Molly, however, she nearly dropped the mouse, who squeaked in surprise and quickly grabbed onto her shirt with his little paws.

"Look who's here!" Ash crowed.

"Molly?" Misty murmured, squinting her eyes at the girl. Once the teenager nodded, Misty smiled and straightened up. "Wow! It's been forever! And look how grown up you are!"

Molly blushed at the comment and managed to mumble a timid, "thank you."

"Shy all of a sudden?" Misty asked playfully. "I don't believe that for a second!"

The teenager scrunched up her nose at the suggestion. "Shy? I wouldn't call myself that. I'm just not as rowdy as I used to be."

"But she still really loves Pokémon," Ash blurted, obviously excited by the fact. "She's a really great trainer! And right now she's studying with Professor Oak."

"Oh, that's cool," Misty breathed. "Are you interested in becoming a Pokémon researcher?"

"I've been thinking about it," Molly confirmed. "I wanted to take a bit of a break from battling, and I'm always interested in learning more about Pokémon. So when my dad suggested I come here and study, I thought it was a good idea."

"Well there's no arguing that," Misty agreed. "I think Professor Oak is the smartest Pokémon researcher around!"

"Molly was telling me she wants to learn more about water type Pokémon," Ash continued. "She was looking for a book about them before I…um…dropped by. But I told her I knew someone who could teach her lots about water types! Someone who knows way more than any book!"

Misty giggled and tossed her hair behind her shoulder with a flick of her head. "That's very sweet of you, Ash. I'd be happy to teach you anything you'd like about water types, Molly!"

The girl's bright blue eyes widened. "Really?"

"Sure," Misty replied. "I love water type Pokémon, so anything I can do to get other people as interested in them as I am, I'm all for!"

Molly's smile widened as she leaned back on her heels. "Wow, thanks, Misty! That's so nice!"

Misty opened her mouth to assure Molly it was no big deal, but Ash spoke up before she could. "Yeah, she's a special one!"

The gym leader playfully rolled her eyes and glanced over at her husband. "You're too much."

"Really?" Ash teased with a chuckle, gently taking Pikachu out of his wife's arms. "Sometimes I think I'm not enough!"

Misty smirked and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning back towards Molly. "Come on, let's head outside! It'll be much easier to observe water types in a more natural habitat."

Molly nodded, and as her head bobbed down, she realized that something seemed different about Misty. Personality-wise, she had already taken notice of that, but now she was seeing it physically as well. Molly might've been young, but if she didn't know any better…

"You two have fun," Ash's deep voice snapped Molly out of her trance. "I'll wait here for the professor."

"Pi!" Pikachu chimed in, waving his little paw at the two women.

Misty led Molly down the stairs and out the back door of the lab, which was a bit strange for the teenager. She knew the place like the back of her hand at this point, so she wasn't used to being led around. Molly had a lot of respect for Misty as a gym leader, however, and wouldn't dare try and upstage her.

She was, however, extremely curious, and wasn't above asking a blunt question to get the answers she was looking for. Even to a renowned gym leader…and the Pokémon Master's wife.

"Misty, can I ask you something?" Molly began, staring at the back of her head.

"Sure," Misty chirped, figuring it would be something about water type Pokémon.

"Are you pregnant?"

Misty almost tripped over her own feet. Spinning around, she revealed a bright red face, which practically rivaled the color of her hair. "What?!"

"Are you pregnant?" Molly repeated, tilting her head.

Misty blinked hard, seemingly struggling to come up with an answer. "Um…wow. And to think I called you shy before."

Molly gave the older female a sideways smile. "I may be less unruly, but I'm still pretty nosy."

Misty sighed and pulled her shoulders back. "Guess I might as well get used to answering that question. Yes, I am."

The teenager's entire face lit up, taking Misty even more off guard than before. "Aw, that's so cute! When's the baby coming? Do you know if it's a boy or a girl? Is Ash excited? Are _you_ excited?"

"Oh, more questions," Misty laughed nervously. "Uh…late December, we don't know yet, and yes. We're both very excited."

Molly giggled and clasped her hands together. "So exciting! You know, I always wanted a little brother or sister. I used to ask my parents for one all the time once we were back together! But they always said they wanted me to have all of their attention, which was really sweet of them. I just always wonder what it would have been like…"

"Sometimes I don't think it's such a bad thing to be an only child," Misty replied. "I have three older sisters, and growing up they were a total handful! It didn't help that we were nothing alike."

"Oh, that's too bad," Molly sighed. "Does that mean you and Ash only want one baby?"

Misty's blush returned, though not quite as red as before. "I'm…not sure. That's not really something we've talked about. I mean, I have my three older sisters, but Ash is an only child, just like you, and he did say it could be pretty lonely. I think we'll just start with this one and see how it goes."

The gym leader subconsciously laid a hand against her growing midsection. Molly spotted the action out of the corner of her eye and allowed her lips to bend up into a small smile.

"I may not have had a little brother or sister, but I'd like to think I'm a pretty good babysitter," Molly informed Misty, throwing in a wink for good measure.

"Babysitter?" Misty repeated with a little giggle. "Molly, I'm not even close to having this kid yet."

"I know, but just think it about it, okay?" Molly prodded. "I think I'm going to be staying with Professor Oak for a while, so I'll be nearby!"

Misty smirked at the teen. "Fair enough. I'll keep it in mind."

"Yay!" Molly cheered. "I can't wait to tell Mrs. Ketchum! Oh…uh…Ash's mom, I mean. I guess you're Mrs. Ketchum now too!"

Misty raised an eyebrow. Not for the second half of the sentence, but the first. "Ash's mom?"

"Oh yeah, I visit her all the time," Molly admitted, suddenly shrinking a bit. "I didn't tell Ash that. I was worried he might get upset."

"Nah, Ash is way too easygoing," Misty refuted. "I'm more surprised that she didn't already tell you about the baby. I absolutely love her, but she's not the best at keeping secrets, and this one she's been telling to just about anyone who'll listen."

"She didn't say anything," Molly quickly assured Misty.

"Huh, I'm impressed!" Misty crowed. "Well, that's enough talk about me. I think it's about time we head over to the pond so I can give you an awesome water Pokémon lesson!"

Now it was Molly's turn to blush. "Oh yeah, guess I got us a bit off track. Sorry about that!"

"Hey, you can't help it that you're nosy," Misty teased, winking at the girl. "Truthfully, I'm that way too, so I can relate."

Molly laughed and eagerly followed after the older girl, feeling even more attached to her than she had before.

Inside of the lab, Ash had been watching the two from a window, and admittedly, listening in on their conversation. As they walked away, he slunk back inside, turning so his back faced the window.

"Pikapi?" Pikachu questioned, tilting his head.

"Mom's known that Molly's been here the whole time?" Ash wondered aloud. "And she didn't tell me?"

* * *

 **Ash and Misty are 21 here, so Molly is 16. I imagine her being 5 years younger than them (so in the 3rd movie Ash and Misty were 10 and Molly was 5.)**

 **And, as you can tell from the ending, we're not exactly done with this storyline ;)**


	21. Ash and Brock's Little Adventure

**Since today was the airing of the second episode featuring Brock and Misty in Japan, I thought it'd be fun to have another nostalgia-esque one shot to put up. This is another one I've been saving for a while, and I think today is the perfect day to share it!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 18 months**

* * *

 **Ash and Brock's Little Adventure**

"Wa!"

"Alright, hang on, little buddy!"

"Wa wa!"

"Yeah, I see the water! Hold on!"

The toddler boy whined and continued trying to move towards the nearby lake. His left hand was caught in Brock's right, however, and that alone was preventing the boy from going anywhere. This began to frustrate the child, who quickly began moaning and whimpering while he struggled.

"Ash, come on, Aiden's really fighting me over here!" Brock called over his shoulder.

"I'm trying," Ash groaned, struggling to push the double stroller across the grass while at the same time trying to keep the diaper bag secure in the stroller's basket. "Man, I don't know how Misty does this. It's basically impossible!"

Aiden continued to shriek, and in one swift motion, threw himself down on his butt. Once he was sitting, however, the little boy became silent, and stopped struggling against his godfather.

"Huh, that's all it took?" Brock wondered aloud. "Alright then, little guy. If that's what makes you happy!"

"Ugh, finally."

Brock looked back over at Ash and smirked. "Figure out that stroller yet?"

"Yeah," Ash replied with a sigh. "Sorry about this, Brock."

"Don't apologize," Brock chuckled. "You know that I love Aiden and Michelle! It's not a problem."

"I know, but this was just supposed to a guys' day, ya know?" Ash sighed. "We had it all figured out, and then someone just _had_ to come challenge Misty at the gym. And somehow no one else in the family is around…"

"I can deal with it just fine," Brock assured.

"This thing totally isn't necessary," Ash grumbled, glaring down at the stroller. "The twins barely like sitting in it anyway! But Misty said if I didn't bring it, I'd have to carry the diaper bag myself. Which would be fine, if it wasn't so heavy and didn't look like a giant purse…"

Brock laughed loudly, causing Aiden to turn his head to look up at the man. "Well, Pikachu seems to be enjoying it!"

The electric mouse was halfway inside the bag, tail end sticking out as he dug through its content. Ash sighed and knelt down, raising an eyebrow as he watched his partner.

"If you want some of the twins' snacks, all you have to do is ask," Ash informed the Pokémon.

Pikachu pulled his head out of the bag, twitching his ears. "Pi-ka?"

"Yeah, I don't mind!" Ash chuckled. "I'm sure the twins don't either. Misty packed enough snacks to last them for the next year anyway."

Brock tilted his head. "Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"

"I don't know," Ash grumbled, reaching into the bag and pulling out a massive snack bag full of various goodies. "You tell me."

"She knows they're not even 2 years old, right?" Brock questioned. "They couldn't eat half of that _combined!_ Not even with Aiden's massive appetite."

"I'm pretty sure she knows that, but she always wants to be 'prepared'," Ash replied, using air quotes when said "prepared" to assert that it was a direct quote from Misty. "It's still crazy, though. I guess she's expecting the end of the world or something."

Brock chuckled before reasoning, "she just worries. It's what makes her such a good mom!"

"That I know," Ash relented, smiling at his best friend. "I may tease her about it, but it's really sweet. I love that about her."

From inside the stroller, Michelle unleashed a shrill whine, struggling as she attempted to climb out of the seat.

"You're sick of the mushy stuff?" Ash chuckled, glancing down at the little girl.

"I think what she's really sick of is that stroller," Brock snickered.

"Told you they don't even like it," Ash remarked, folding his arms. "It's alright, princess! Daddy will get you out of there."

Ash bent over and lifted Michelle out, which quickly got the girl quiet. He smiled and rubbed their noses together, earning a shrill giggle from the toddler.

"You're so cute," Ash chuckled, placing the child on the ground. He watched as she toddled over to Aiden, placing one hand atop his head while sticking the fingers of her other hand in her mouth. "Good, no fighting! For now, at least. We should take advantage of the peace and quiet."

"Sounds good to me!" Brock guffawed. "I've got lunch all ready to go."

He put down his backpack, unzipping the compartment and pulling out the food he had crafted especially for him and Ash.

"I feel bad that I didn't make anything for Aiden and Michelle," Brock sighed, frowning as he looked at the lunch spread out in front of him.

"It's totally fine, neither of us had any idea they'd be tagging along!" Ash assured. "Besides, you saw how much food Misty packed just for them. Neither one will be going hungry today. Or ever, honestly."

"You've got a point there," Brock chuckled.

"Besides, I'm _starving_ ," Ash groaned. "So I'm gonna need some of that food before _I_ waste away!"

"I would say I hope you like it, but I'm never too worried about you," Brock snickered, taking a seat on the ground.

"Everything you make is amazing, Brocko," Ash commented, joining the older male by the food. "And it all looks as good as always! Let's dig in!"

He picked up one of the fresh sandwiches and removed the plastic wrap around it, opening his mouth to take a bite. As soon as he had, he released a sound of clear satisfaction. "Yeah, just like I thought. So good!"

"Glad you're happy with it," Brock laughed. He started to open up his own sandwich, and that's what caught the attention of the twins. Aiden started crawling towards him, and Michelle scurried along as quickly as her little legs would take her. Just as Brock was raising the sandwich to his mouth, he felt two weights land squarely in his lap. Blinking, Brock glanced down and realized Aiden and Michelle were now situated there, gazing up at him with wide, curious eyes. "Aw, hello you two! Looking for some attention?"

Aiden pointed up at Brock's sandwich. "Foo?"

"Foo?" Brock repeated with a chuckle.

After swallowing his next bite, Ash explained, "That means 'food.' Misty and I hear it all the time out of him! I'm starting to think that's Aiden's favorite word now."

Brock once again glanced between his sandwich and Aiden. The little boy was undeterred, and continued staring up at his godfather. Finally, Brock smiled and tore a small piece of his sandwich off, holding it in front of the toddler's mouth. "You want to try some, little guy?"

Aiden opened his mouth and accepted Brock's offering. While Aiden slowly chewed the piece, Brock tore off an equally small piece and presented it to Michelle.

"Here, sweetie," Brock crooned, snickering as Michelle took the piece much more timidly than her brother. "I love how different their personalities are."

After a bit of chewing, Aiden had swallowed his bite, and Michelle finished up soon after. Both looked contemplative (as contemplative as a couple of not-yet 2 year olds could be) which amused their father and godfather.

"What did you think, guys?" Ash asked. "Did you like Brock's food?"

Huge grins suddenly broke out on both of their faces, and they quickly became livelier, jumping up at Brock with outstretched arms instead of simply sitting on his lap.

"Foo! Foo!"

"Oh, I'll take that as a yes!" Brock laughed.

"Except now they want the rest of your sandwich…" Ash muttered, watching the twins fervently surround Brock.

"That's no big deal!" Brock refuted. "They can have-"

"No, Brock, I'm not gonna let you give up your whole lunch to those two little Munchlax," Ash countered. "Aiden, Michelle, come here you two! Mommy packed a whole bunch of yummy food for you guys! How about we eat some of that?"

Aiden and Michelle both shook their heads before turning their attention back to Brock. "Foo!"

"Guess not," Ash sighed.

"Ash, seriously, I don't mind," Brock tried. "I can eat some of the side stuff. It's much more important that they get fed than me."

Ash let out a long breath before declaring, "No. Feeding them isn't your responsibility. Aiden, Michelle, come here. You want some more of that sandwich?"

Aiden and Michelle scurried over to their father as quickly as they'd done to Brock. Ash tore off two small pieces of his own sandwich and gave them to the twins, who rapidly gobbled them up. As soon as those pieces were gone, however, they started clamoring for more. With an almost pained look on his face, Ash tore the sandwich in half and began splitting each half up into even smaller pieces. He divided those between the twins, and watched with a smirk as they started eating it all up.

"Wow, they were right," Brock marveled. "Fatherhood really changes a man. I never thought I'd see you give up your lunch to anyone!"

"These two are the only ones I'd share with," Ash chuckled, watching the twins eat happily and quietly.

"Pikachu?" The electric mouse whined, looking up from the applesauce pouch he'd picked from the twins' expansive snack collection.

"Yeah, you too," Ash relented.

"Pi Pikachupi?"

"…yeah, Misty too."

Brock laughed deeply. "Wow, you've gotten soft, Ketchum! Giving out food like it's going out of style."

"You know, it's funny," Ash mused. "This sandwich is so amazing! I totally want to eat the whole thing! But somehow, I like seeing Aiden and Michelle super happy even more than having the entire sandwich to myself. And trust me, I _love_ this sandwich."

"More than Misty?" Brock teased, Pikachu tittering in the background.

Ash blushed lightly and turned his head away so Brock couldn't see. "No comment."

Brock smirked to himself and went to take another bite out of his sandwich. Before he could, however, he caught sight of something across the lake…that something being a beautiful woman.

He couldn't exactly get the best look at her from such a distance, but it didn't matter. Brock could tell that she was absolutely _stunning_. Long and sleek chestnut brown hair, a gorgeous ivory complexion, shorts so short and tight that Brock had only envisioned such clothing in his dreams…

"Hey, Brock? You still in there?"

The Pokémon doctor blinked hard and turned his head back towards Ash. "Yeah! Um…just out of curiosity…do you see that girl over there?"

Ash raised an eyebrow. "Over where? I don't see any girls around here besides Michelle."

The little girl looked up from her sandwich bits upon hearing her name, releasing a tiny squeak as she tilted her head.

"Not right here," Brock sighed, nodding his head towards the lake. "Over _there._ "

Ash looked in that direction, and quickly caught sight of the girl. He wasn't super impressed (he was married to the love of his life, after all, and believed she was the most beautiful woman alive) but Ash knew that Brock was definitely smitten, because he was by a majority of women.

"She's alright," Ash assessed with a shrug of his shoulders.

Brock nearly fell flat on his face. " _Alright?!_ "

"Well, she's no Misty," Ash reasoned with his flustered friend.

"I have to go talk to her," Brock decided, gently smacking a determined fist against his open palm.

"What, now we're throwing women into the mix?" Ash whined. "This guys' day is seriously going out the window."

"I'm going to need something to get her attention," Brock continued formulating, causing Ash to sigh. Once Brock saw a pretty girl, there was really no talking him out of going after her. "Something that attracts women. Something cute…"

His eyes slowly trailed down towards the twins, who were still busy finishing off the remains of their father's sandwich. Ash suddenly realized Brock was now staring at his children, and that's when alarm instantly set in.

"Brock!" Ash hissed.

"Women love little kids!" Brock cried. "And honestly, you and Misty made two of the cutest babies I've ever seen. Those adorable faces have never failed me."

"You know Misty hates it when you use the kids as lady bait," Ash groaned. "And by the way, she came up with the term 'lady bait.' I had nothing to do with it."

"Aiden and Michelle mean the world to me," Brock continued, not at all phased by the fact that Misty had apparently come up with her own dictionary about him. "You know I would never put them in any danger or do anything stupid with them. They're just so adorable that no woman I've ever tried to attract can ever resist them. And Misty doesn't have to know! It'll be our little secret."

"Yeah, yours and mine maybe," Ash sighed. "Aiden and Michelle are both starting to talk, and they don't believe in censorship. They say _whatever_ they want, even if it doesn't make total sense. And Misty is always the number one person they babble to. They just _love_ telling their mommy _everything._ And Misty seems to understand every word! Did you know I can't even sneak a pre-dinner snack anymore? They tell her! I'm constantly getting tattled on by my own kids who can barely speak!"

Brock stared Ash dead in the eyes. "Glad you got that off your chest?"

"Yeah, it feels good," Ash breathed heavily, sagging his shoulders.

"Just let me try," Brock pleaded, returning to the subject as quickly as they'd come off it. "You can stay right here and watch! I won't go far at all. I swear."

Ash thought it over for a moment before reluctantly giving in. "Alright, fine. Just try and make it quick, okay?"

"You're the best," Brock sighed happily. "Aiden, Michelle, you want to go for a little walk?"

The twins both squealed and nodded happily. Brock took the twins' little hands and gently pulled them up, urging them along towards the lake. Ash watched with slightly narrowed eyes, not out of anger but out of concentration. He wanted to keep a close eye on the three of them and make sure everything was going smoothly. Ash watched over his children like a Fearrow; he adored them and was extremely protective.

Brock made it to the other side of the lake in near record time, which was impressive considering he was leading two toddlers. The woman was still there, in the same spot, just looking out over the water. Confidently puffing his chest out, Brock moved towards her, still holding onto the twins' hands. Once he reached her, he cleared his throat to get her attention, which worked instantly. The woman whipped her head around, staring up at Brock with wide, purple eyes.

"Hello there," Brock began smoothly. "I couldn't help but to notice you from across the lake."

The woman glanced quickly over the water before turning her focus back onto Brock.

"You're very beautiful," Brock added, shooting the woman a devilish grin.

"Thank you," the woman replied, her own lips bending into a thin smile. She looked down at Aiden and Michelle, and her smile suddenly became a bit wider. "Your little friends are awfully cute."

"Oh, thank you!" Brock guffawed. "They are, aren't they? Yeah, I just _love_ kids. Especially these two!"

"Are they yours?" The woman asked.

"Oh, no," Brock refuted. "Not mine. But they _are_ my godchildren! So I love and care for them as if they really were my own."

The woman's smile widened. "How nice. What's your name?"

"Right!" Brock laughed, realizing he had forgotten that little detail. "The name's Brock. And you are…?"

"Gina," the woman responded airily.

"Gina," Brock repeated, his face lighting up. "That's a beautiful name for a beautiful lady!"

Gina smirked. Aiden and Michelle suddenly started to get antsy, bewildering Brock. They were both whimpering and whining, moving back from the woman in front of them. Gina's smirk took on an almost evil appearance, which Brock missed because he was so busy trying to figure out why the twins were so upset.

"Hey, it's okay," Brock tried soothing. "Nothing happened! We're just standing here talking. Are you two getting shy?"

Gina started laughing, but it wasn't the sweet, melodic laugh Brock had been expecting. In fact, it was nearly malevolent…much like her smile. She looked at him with a glint in her eye and purred, "Looks like they're smarter than you are."

Brock tried stammering out a response, but was cut off by the woman turning into a hazy purple cloud. Ash jumped to his feet, Pikachu hopping onto his shoulder as the man started to run for the other side of the lake.

Aiden and Michelle were both clutching Brock's legs, digging their nails in as they cowered in fear. The purple smog fanned out to reveal a black face with big, narrowed eyes and a wide open mouth with two sharp teeth on either side.

"Gastly?!" Brock cried, appalled that he had never been speaking to a beautiful girl at all.

Ash came skidding to a halt beside Brock, warily eyeing the ghost type. "Well…this is fun."

Aiden and Michelle, upon hearing their father's voice, released Brock and went for his legs instead. Ash grimaced, but quickly shook that off to focus on the Pokémon floating across from them.

"I've got this," Ash muttered, reaching for one of the poke balls on his belt. "Krookodile, I choose you!"

The giant red crocodile materialized before his trainer, unleashing a determined cry as he stared down Gastly. The gas Pokémon was unaffected, laughing and sticking its tongue out to drag it up Krookodile's face.

"Ugh, lick attack," Brock muttered. "And to think I had my eyes set on that before…"

"Krookodile, foul play!" Ash ordered.

The intimidation Pokémon ran towards Gastly, grabbing onto the ghost type's still exposed tongue and whipping it around before throwing the ghost to the ground.

"Good idea!" Brock crowed. "Dark type moves are super effective against ghost types!"

"Yeah, except this Gastly isn't gonna give up so easy," Ash grumbled.

Brock was about to ask why Ash thought that, but he got his answer as soon as Gastly came flying back up, laughing in their faces.

"Your perception has become pretty flawless," Brock muttered.

Despite the situation, Ash smirked at the compliment. That smirk disappeared, however, as soon as Gastly fired a shadow ball off at Krookodile.

"Quick, dodge it!" Ash cried.

The crocodile slid out of the way, jumping back up just as Ash yelled, "Stone edge!"

Krookodile's body began glowing bright white, two equally bright rings appearing around his body. The light diminished almost as quickly as it had shown up, the rings transforming into solid gray rocks. Puffing his chest out, Krookodile sent the rocks flying towards Gastly, who was so busy laughing that it didn't see the attack coming. The stone edge made direct contact, causing Gastly a great deal of pain and, perhaps even more than that, a huge shot to the ego. As soon as the dust cleared, Gastly was left floating with a stunned look on its face. Ash and Krookodile both narrowed their eyes at nearly the exact same time, and Gastly yelped, melting away into thin air.

"Heh," Ash scoffed. "Not so tough now."

He knelt down and gently pried Aiden and Michelle off of his legs so he could wrap his arms around them instead. "Are you two okay?"

Surprisingly, for a couple of kids who had been quite frightened just a few minutes before, their eyes were quite bright as they nodded their heads.

"Dada –ool!" Aiden shouted, throwing his arms up.

"I'm cool?" Ash asked with a chuckle, causing Aiden to nod again. "What about Krookodile? Was he cool too?"

Aiden's grin widened. "Ya!"

Krookodile blushed, though it was hard to see thanks to his deep red skin.

"You really were awesome, Krookodile," Ash informed his Pokémon, pulling out his poke ball. "Thank you!"

"Krook!" Krookodile replied before being sucked back into the sphere.

As Ash stood back up, Brock sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm really sorry, Ash. If I had any idea I was getting tricked by a nasty ghost, I would've never come over here. Especially not with Aiden and Michelle."

Ash smiled at his best friend. He wanted to tell him it was okay, because it was, and that he knew he would never put Aiden and Michelle in danger. But there was only one thing hanging at the tip of his tongue, and Ash was too much of a smart ass to ignore it. Brock noticed the look on the younger male's face, and tilted his head in bewilderment.

"What?"

"…you just hit on a _Pokémon,_ Brocko."

 **XXX**

"Mama! Mama!"

"Aw, there are my sweet babies! I missed you two so much!"

Misty was kneeling on the ground, snuggling her twin toddlers in her arms. Ash and Brock had ended up making it back to the house at practically the same time Misty was leaving the gym. As soon as Aiden and Michelle saw their mother, both had positively lit up and began clamoring for her. Misty, of course, was thrilled to see her children, and had immediately made a run for them.

"Did they behave?" Misty asked, glancing up at Ash and Brock.

"They were perfect little angels," Ash confirmed, nodding his head. "No tantrums, no running off, ate all their lunch…well… _my_ lunch."

"Your lunch?" Misty repeated, smirking as she raised an eyebrow. "You shared your own food?"

"I was very impressed myself," Brock chuckled.

"Turns out they really liked the sandwiches Brock made, which isn't really a surprise," Ash laughed. "I was happy to share with my kiddos."

"That was very nice of Daddy," Misty playfully gasped, looking between the twins. "Wasn't it?"

Aiden and Michelle both nodded, leading Misty to giggle.

"I'm just sorry I ruined your day together," Misty sighed, once again looking between the two men. "You should've been having fun, not babysitting two toddlers, adorable as they are."

"It was no big deal," Brock assured her. "Ash and I can always plan another guys' day. These two will only be little for so long and not think hanging out with their daddy and godfather is the lamest thing ever. I love spending time with them!"

"That's very sweet of you, Brock," Misty murmured, gently tilting her head. "It means a lot to me!"

"Mama! Mama!"

Aiden was tugging on Misty's hair, which caused her to wince as she gently pried his little fingers away. "What is it, baby?"

"Dada baftle!" Aiden cried, his voice pitched with excitement.

"Battled?" Misty parroted, able to understand her son's relative gibberish. She was so busy staring at Aiden that she didn't notice Ash and Brock both pale behind him.

Aiden rapidly nodded his head. "A ghofty! It –ooked like a giwl. Bwock liked hew!"

Misty's eye started to twitch. "A ghost that looked like a girl…that Brock liked…did he bring you and your sister over to the girl?"

Aiden nodded once again. Misty finally looked up from the boy, narrowing her eyes at Brock.

"Was scawy," Michelle murmured, sounding far more timid than her brother. She perked up, however, when she added, "Dada bwave!"

Brock was still terrified, but Ash was now a bit more relaxed and proudly puffing his chest out.

" _What did you two do with my babies?!_ "

Misty's shrill voice quickly crushed the haven Ash's ego had gone to. "It was no big deal, Misty! Aiden and Michelle were never in any danger!"

"Why was Brock using them to hit on girls again?" Misty growled, turning her pointed look solely onto Brock.

"Well, I did say it was okay-"

"ASH! Why would you tell him it was okay?! You know I hate it when he uses our children as lady bait!"

"I know, but I was right there, I was watching, and…you're missing the whole point of the story!" Ash cried.

"Oh yeah?" Misty drawled. "And what's that?"

"It wasn't a _real_ woman, it was a Gastly _pretending_ to be a human woman," Ash replied, trying his best not to laugh. "Which means Brock was flirting with a Pokémon."

Misty's narrowed gaze shifted back to Brock, who was now sporting a strong blush. After a moment, Misty's serious look broke, and she started to laugh freely, much to the curiosity of her two young children.

"Come on guys, it isn't that funny!" Brock cried.

"It's pretty funny," Misty argued through her laughter. "Isn't this the second time you've done this?"

"Oh yeah!" Ash crowed, his eyes widening. "It is! He hit on another Gastly at…ugh, what was that place called again?"

"Maiden's Peak," Misty assisted him with a snicker.

Brock groaned, while Ash just smirked and slung an arm over his friend's shoulder.

"Chin up, Brocko," Ash murmured. "At least Misty's not mad anymore!"

"Yeah, great…"

"Oh no, I'm still mad," Misty refuted, her eyes narrowing once again. "Don't think for one second that just because Brock was hitting on a Pokémon that I'm not."

Brock continued to stew in his own misery, while Ash groaned and rubbed his temple. "Told you they always go babbling to Misty."

* * *

 **I actually totally forgot about that aspect of the Maiden's Peak episode until I was proof reading this chapter. So instead of it just being "lol Brock hit on a Pokémon" it actually transformed into "lol Brock hit on a Pokémon _again_."**

 **That was my favorite part of writing this one shot, quite honestly.**


	22. Love Like You

**I have been holding onto this one for a _long_ time. I just kept writing up other one shots I got too excited about and this one kept ending up getting pushed to the side...but this happens to be a very sweet one, so I'm happy I'm finally getting around to sharing it with you all!**

* * *

 **Love Like You**

Misty would never forget the first time she held her children.

Their newness and innocence had been overwhelming. She'd held them separately: Aiden first, Michelle second. The circumstances, despite the babies being twins, were entirely different.

She had gotten to hold Aiden only about a minute or so after he was born. He had screamed and cried so loudly ("the loudest baby I've ever heard," the doctor had remarked) but as soon as he was given to Misty, he became silent. She'd held him tightly against her chest, the warmth of their flesh intermingling. Once he was quiet, the first thing he did was reach his arm out, placing his hand right over her heart. Misty's breath caught, and all she could do was stare at the baby lying against her.

"What do you think?" Ash had asked breathlessly. Misty glanced up at him, surprised that for once in his life Ash was practically speechless. He was staring at the baby, his eyes full of mystification and wonderment.

"I think you have some competition," Misty finally replied, gently placing her hand against the back of her son's head.

"I'm okay with that," Ash breathed, leaning in closer to his newborn son.

Misty smiled weakly. Of course Ash was okay with it. Their son was perfect. Besides, she knew she'd have competition soon as well…in the form of their baby daughter. With one hand still on her baby boy, Misty moved the other down to cradle her large stomach, which still housed the second baby.

It was only a few seconds later when Misty was told they'd have to begin delivering the second baby, and take the boy for tests in the meantime.

Misty knew this was necessary, but it still broke her heart when they took her son away from her and he began to cry relentlessly once more. She'd looked up helplessly at her husband, who gently shushed her and pressed a delicate kiss against her lips.

"He's going to be okay," Ash whispered against them, raising a hand to stroke his wife's bright red hair. "Focus on giving birth. Then you'll have two babies to hold for as long as you want."

Once their daughter was born, however, Misty wasn't able to hold her right away. Not like her brother. Michelle was ill, and it was clear from the moment she had been delivered. And so, it wasn't until a few hours later that Misty was finally able to hold her daughter.

That, of course, had done nothing to diminish the moment for her. It was just as perfect as when she'd held her son for the first time just hours before. The only difference between the two was that her daughter didn't want to stretch out much like her brother had. Instead, she wanted to stay tucked in tight, everything from her arms to her face.

"It's alright," Misty murmured as she stroked the little girl's bright red hair. "It's just Mommy and Daddy now. No one is going to come poke at you, I promise."

Ash frowned as he gazed at the baby. "You think she's scared? They did run a lot of tests on her, after all."

"She might be," Misty replied softly. "It has to be scary to come right into the world and start getting prodded by strangers."

Timidly, Ash reached out for the baby girl and delicately touched his fingers to her head. Misty slowly looked up from the newborn, instead setting her gaze on her husband. He looked quite serious, though his features were still gentle and kind.

"We're here," Ash breathed, his eyes locked on the baby. "Mommy and Daddy will protect you. You're going to be okay."

The baby squeaked and turned her head just enough so her face was no longer buried in her mother's chest. Misty smiled at her husband, who was returning the action to their little daughter.

"You're so good," Misty murmured, finally regaining Ash's attention. "The sweetest, most loving person in the world. How did I get so lucky?"

Ash smirked and slightly turned his head. "I could ask you the same thing."

Misty's smile faltered. She didn't want to say it out loud and ruin the moment, but she didn't quite agree with her husband on that one.

She didn't think she could compare to him.

 **XXX**

That had been 8 months ago.

Aiden and Michelle were now much bigger. They could sit up on their own, roll over, and were just starting to crawl and talk. Both also had a few teeth already and frequently showed those off whenever they smiled or laughed.

A lot of that was reserved just for their father.

The twins were happy babies, for the most part. But it seemed that _everything_ Ash did was funny to them. Often, all he had to do was shoot them a look, and they'd both start giggling like crazy. The bond between the three of them was something that Misty found simply incredible.

She sat on the couch and watched as Ash, who was lying on his back on the floor, held Aiden up in the air by his sides. The baby boy was squealing with delight, holding his arms down towards Ash and switching his gaze between his father and the ceiling.

"Isn't that sweet?" Misty commented aloud, a slight giggle accompanying it.

"Aiden loves when I do this," Ash chuckled. "Michelle doesn't…not as much as Aiden, at least. But there are other things I do that she really likes!"

Misty continued to watch with a smile as Ash lowered Aiden, pressing kiss after kiss against the boy's cheek. He mumbled happily, grabbing at his father's face with little hands.

"You know, they're just like you," Misty stated, resting her head in her hand.

Ash tilted his head back to shoot his wife a teasing look. "I hope that's a compliment."

"Oh, it is!" Misty cried almost too quickly. "I'm glad they're just like you. It's much better than them being like me."

Ash's teasing look melted into one of bewilderment. "Huh?"

Misty shrugged, not bothering to move her hand from her face. "I don't really think I have the best personality to inherit."

Ash sat up, placing Aiden down on his lap. The boy cooed curiously and continued reaching up towards his father, pulling at the man's shirt. "That's not true, Mist. You have a great personality! Besides, I think the kids definitely have parts of them that come from you."

"Well, I hope you're wrong," Misty sighed. "I was kind of a bratty kid, Ash. I admit it. But I don't want our kids to act like that. And I highly doubt they ever will, because they're both the sweetest things in the whole entire world."

"That doesn't mean they won't have their moments from time-to-time," Ash reasoned with her. "Besides, don't be so hard on yourself. I wasn't the most angelic kid, after all."

Misty scoffed and indignantly turned her head away. "Yeah, right."

"Not all the time, I wasn't!" Ash argued. "Come on, I'm sure my mom's told you stories."

Misty pulled her shoulders back before reluctantly admitting, "she has."

"Yeah, you're just choosing to ignore those at the moment," Ash teased, a smirk reappearing on his face. "But the next time you want to get on my case, you'll bring it right back up!"

The gym leader just rolled her eyes. "Ash, it doesn't matter. I _know_ your mom has told me those stories, but you still were _nowhere near_ as bad as I was. If our kids had turned out like me, I'm not so sure you and I would be able to handle it. I barely understand how my grandmother managed it."

"Mist, quit saying that," Ash gently chastised. "The kids _do_ have traits of you. And they're all good!"

Misty sat in silence before continuing, "do you remember the first time I got to hold both of them?"

"Yeah, of course I do," Ash replied.

"They were so sweet, and loving, and precious," Misty sighed, her eyes fluttering closed in sheer awe. "And they still are. Nothing's changed, and that makes me so happy."

"Okay, but I don't see how any of that proves they're not like you," Ash reasoned.

"Because I'm not any of those things!" Misty blurted. As Ash silently stared at her, Misty sighed and leaned back against the couch. "But you are. They get those traits from you. And I'm really grateful that they do."

Ash twisted his mouth. "Maybe. But I happen to think that you're very sweet, loving, and precious yourself."

Misty let out a bitter laugh at that. "Yeah, right."

"I mean it!" Ash cried.

"Ma!" Aiden squealed, squirming on his father's lap.

Ash glanced down at the baby and let out a small chuckle, catching the infant's attention and causing him to smile. "Hey, sounds like Aiden agrees with me!"

The little boy inched his way off of Ash's lap, crawling unsteadily towards his mother and latching onto the woman's legs. Misty raised an eyebrow and glanced down at her son, who was grinning up boldly at her.

"Look at that," Ash chuckled. "He loves you!"

Misty returned the little boy's smile, although hers was more muted. "Aren't you just the sweetest?" She bent over and lifted the child onto her lap, hugging him close to her body. The little boy cooed contently in turn, leaning his head against his mother's chest.

"You know, babies have a better sense of people than adults do."

Misty blinked and looked over at Ash, who had a thoughtful look on his face.

"What?" Misty murmured.

"Babies are a better judge of character than adults," Ash reiterated. "Same thing with Pokémon. They have heightened senses that older humans don't have, so they can sense if someone is really good. Professor Oak taught me that."

"Oh," Misty breathed, her eyes falling back onto Aiden. "That's interesting."

Ash smirked, knowing that Misty was skirting around the heart of his comment. "Misty, Aiden would not be cuddling up to you like that unless he knew that you were good."

The gym leader scoffed at that. "Please, you expect me to buy that? He's my son."

"So?" Ash challenged. "If you were really that bad of a person, Aiden wouldn't care if you were his mother or not. He'd probably freak whenever you held him. And he _definitely_ wouldn't crawl over to you on his own."

Misty puffed out her cheeks in frustration, causing Ash to laugh. Once she let the air go, she shot her husband a pointed look. "How are you so good at making me feel better?"

"Because I know how to get through to you," Ash replied with a smile. "It'd be pretty bad if I didn't."

Misty smiled and lolled her head to the side. "I love you, Ash."

He grinned back at his wife, giving her a small nod. "I love you, too."

* * *

 **Ash reassuring Misty is a personal favorite of mine. In all facets, honestly. Reading, writing, watching...whatever it is, I love it!**

 **On a (slightly?) related note, Pokeshipping Week is less than a month away! I've already started writing my stuff for this year and I'm very excited about putting those up and reading and seeing everyone else's work! So get excited for that y'all!**


	23. A Vote for Vanessa

**This is another one I wrote a really long time ago. I really love writing Misty's nieces, and their relationships with Ash are also really interesting and fun for me to write. I wanted to do that with a bit of a high school twist, since that's something Ash really never dealt with.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Dakota: 15 years old**

 **Vanessa: 14 years old**

* * *

 **A Vote for Vanessa**

"Uncle Ash! You know all about being famous, right?"

Ash gasped and fell on his back, Pikachu tumbling off of his shoulder. He had been relaxing just a second ago, and all of a sudden, he'd found himself face-to-face with his middle niece, Vanessa.

"Uh…I guess?" Ash stammered.

Vanessa giggled and sat back, allowing Ash to get back in sitting position. "Sorry! I just need some help and I figured you were the best person to go to!"

Ash's frustration at being startled quickly evaporated. "Really? That's so nice of you, Vanessa! What do you need help with?"

Folding her hands in her lap, the teen announced, "I have decided to run for class president at school!"

Ash blinked before raising an eyebrow. "That's a little random, isn't it?"

"Chu…" Pikachu agreed.

"Yeah, I guess so," Vanessa admitted. "But I want to get as involved in high school as Dakota is, and gymnastics season isn't until the winter! And drama club and dance ensemble are really slow right now."

"So you think being in charge of all your classmates will fill that void?" Ash deadpanned.

"Maybe," Vanessa sighed, shrugging her shoulders.

"Not for nothing, I might not be the best person to go to for this," Ash sighed. "Presidency isn't all about popularity after all."

"Of course it is!" Vanessa cried.

"Vanessa, your classmates aren't going to elect you if you can't make good points and promise to make improvements," Ash elucidated. "You're going to need a good strategy if you want to win. Like a Pokémon battle!"

Vanessa furrowed her brow at that. "Uncle Ash, I'm running for _class president_ in _high school_. The whole thing is a popularity contest!"

Ash thought about this for a moment before pursing his lips. "Guess you're right."

"I'd like to think I'm already pretty popular," Vanessa mused. "I've got lots of friends, after all, and everyone knows that Dakota and I are cousins!"

"Why does that matter?" Ash asked.

"Because she's pretty much the most popular girl in the 10th grade," Vanessa sighed. "Come on, Uncle Ash, keep up!"

"I never went to high school!" Ash cried. "I'm not really sure how any of this works."

Vanessa's eyes widened. "You never went to high school?!"

"No…I was a Pokémon trainer from the day I turned 10 years old."

Vanessa hummed thoughtfully and tilted her head. "That's interesting. You really missed out!"

"Heh, I don't think so," Ash chuckled, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "School was never really my thing."

The blue haired teen thought for a moment before beaming at her uncle. "Oh, I know! Since you never went to high school, and I need help with my campaign, you should come to school with me and make the rounds!"

"Make the rounds?" Ash repeated.

"Yeah, you know, sign autographs, take pictures, all of that," Vanessa explained. "You're a celebrity, and if I have a _celebrity_ supporting me, how could I lose?"

"Vanessa, you know I don't like using my fame that way," Ash sighed.

"Please, Uncle Ash?" Vanessa pleaded, clasping her hands together and putting on the best, most convincing pout she possibly could. "I really would love to be class president, and it would mean so much to me if you helped me out!"

Ash grimaced the second Vanessa pulled that face. Even though his nieces were only his through marriage, he'd known all of them since they were babies, and he had as big of a soft spot for them as he did for his own children.

"Fine," Ash sighed, rubbing a hand against the side of his face. "I'll do it."

"Yay!" Vanessa squealed, throwing herself at her uncle and wrapping her arms around his neck. "Thank you so much, Uncle Ash!"

Ash blanched out in shock for a moment before smiling and hugging his niece back. "Of course! Anything for you."

 **XXX**

"Vanessa, are the sunglasses really necessary?"

"Pika, pikachu?"

"Uh, yeah! They make you look even cooler than you already are!"

Ash didn't have the heart to tell his niece that the only thing it made him look was hungover. Pikachu was sporting his own pair as well, although the mouse was enjoying it far more than his trainer.

"We're going to meet up with my running mate in the garden," Vanessa continued. "She should have everything all set up for you by now!"

"The garden?" Ash repeated. "Your school has a garden?"

"Duh!" Vanessa giggled. "Where else are we supposed to hang out when we have free periods?"

"I don't know," Ash muttered. "I didn't go to high school, remember?"

"Oh yeah," Vanessa sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "I keep forgetting that!"

As Ash followed Vanessa down the hallway, he took advantage of being behind her and pulled the sunglasses up on his head. Suddenly, he felt a little more normal, and was now able to get a better look at his surroundings without the dark filter provided by the tinted lenses. It looked like an average school hallway: lined by lockers and classroom doors. He could also tell that the school was in very good condition and well-maintained. He certainly hoped so, after hearing how much the school cost from his chatty sisters-in-law.

"Uncle Ash?"

The man blinked and stopped in his tracks, looking over his shoulder. Dakota was standing at her open locker, sea green eyes narrowed. She slammed the locker's dark blue door and scurried over to her cousin and uncle, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

"Hey, Dakota!" Ash greeted, giving the blonde a little wave.

"What are you doing here?" Dakota asked.

"Ask your cousin," Ash replied with a smirk, nodding his head towards Vanessa.

Dakota turned her attention onto the blue-haired girl. "Why is Uncle Ash here?"

"He's helping me with my campaign for class president!" Vanessa chirped.

"Class president?" Dakota repeated, raising a wry eyebrow.

"Yeah, I thought it'd be fun to be in charge of people," Vanessa explained. "My dad's in charge of tons of people at work, and he seems to like it!"

Dakota hummed in thought before turning her attention back onto Ash. "You know, you're in charge of a lot of people too, Uncle Ash. Do you like it?"

Ash chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "I wouldn't say I'm in charge of a lot of people…"

"But you're the Pokémon Master, of course you are!" Dakota continued. "In fact, doesn't that technically make you in charge of Aunt Misty?"

Vanessa's eyes lit up at the prospect, and she spun around to beam at her uncle. "Oh my gosh, she's right! You _are_ in charge of Aunt Misty! What does she think about that? If you're at work and you tell her to do something, does that mean she has to do it?"

"You two know your aunt just as well as I do," Ash scoffed. "Do you really think she lets me boss her around?"

"No," Dakota admitted. "But it's funny to picture it!"

"Anyway, I'm taking Uncle Ash out to the garden," Vanessa continued, turning back towards her older cousin. "Aliya is out there waiting for us."

"What, is she supposed to be your vice president or something?" Dakota asked jokingly.

"Yeah!" Vanessa chirped, missing the blonde's teasing tone.

"Oh," Dakota breathed, shifting her eyes away. "Well…I guess that makes sense."

"Come on," Vanessa urged, grabbing her uncle's hands. "Just wait until you see this!"

She pulled him along, Dakota watching after them with a raised eyebrow. As she watched them go, two of her friends, Rylee and Charlotte, came shuffling up to her, surprise plastered on their faces.

"Was that the Pokémon Master?" Charlotte asked. "With your cousin?"

"Yeah…" Dakota sighed. "He's my uncle."

"WHAT?!" Rylee and Charlotte cried simultaneously, causing Dakota to wince.

"I never knew that!" Rylee shrieked.

"It's not really something I like to advertise," Dakota grumbled. "Obviously, Vanessa feels differently."

"Oh, I would," Charlotte breathed. "He's _so_ cute!"

"Ew, Charlotte!" Dakota whined.

"What? He is."

"How come he's at school?" Rylee questioned.

"Get this," Dakota began. "Vanessa is running for freshman class president, and she thinks using our uncle is a great way to get people to vote for her."

Rylee and Charlotte exchanged looks before Rylee replied, "that's _genius_."

At this, Dakota's sea green eyes snapped open. "You can't be serious."

"I'm totally serious!" Rylee gasped. "Everyone knows that class president is basically a popularity contest. And Vanessa is parading one of the biggest celebrities around our school like it's nothing!"

"Maybe we should see where they're going," Charlotte suggested. "I wouldn't mind getting the Pokémon Master's autograph!"

Rylee nodded in agreement, and the two girls went scurrying after Vanessa and Ash. Dakota watched after them in disbelief, but eventually chose to follow, curiosity getting the better of her. The three girls eventually wound up in the school garden, which fell between the school building and the field. The grassy green area was full of colorful flower beds and benches, and a beautiful stone water fountain in the center. At the far end of the garden, a large crowd had already gathered around Vanessa, Ash, and Vanessa's best friend, Aliya.

"Ugh, this is a disaster," Dakota groaned.

"Seriously," Charlotte sighed. "How am I supposed to get my autograph with a crowd like _that?!_ "

Although Ash was used to being mobbed by admiring kids, this felt a lot more suffocating than usual. Probably because he was trying to do something for his niece that he didn't necessarily agree with but just couldn't say no to her.

 _I wish I wasn't so soft…_

"HEY!" Aliya suddenly barked, snapping Ash out of his own head and causing Pikachu to nearly slip off of his shoulder. "If you want an autograph from the Pokémon Master, you're all going to have to form a line!"

As the students obeyed, Ash eyed the brunette girl with interest. "Hey, you're pretty good! You might even give my manager a run for his money."

"No poaching my vice president!" Vanessa scolded. "I need her _way_ more than you do, Uncle Ash."

Ash chuckled softly to himself, watching as the star struck students organized themselves into a neat line just as Aliya had demanded.

"Good," Aliya purred. "Now, when you come up here to meet the Pokémon Master, have any items you want signed ready to go! Also, if you'd like a picture with him, you can give me your cell phone or poké gear and I will be happy to take it for you! Not too many autographs or photos, though. We've got a long line here and we need to keep it moving!"

After Aliya finished her spiel, the first student approached the trio while everyone else in line resumed talking to one another. Despite still feeling awkward (and conflicted) about the whole thing, Ash put on his best smile and greeted the teenage boy in front of him, taking the hat he had in his hands in order to sign.

Dakota was still watching from a distance and rolling her eyes, but let out a startled yelp when Charlotte grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around. "Charlotte! Don't do that!"

"Look, it's not really fair for me and Rylee to have to wait in that ridiculous line," Charlotte sighed. "I mean, he's your uncle, and you're like our best friend!"

"She's right," Rylee agreed, causing Dakota to look over her shoulder so she could see her other friend better. "Besides, we're some of the most popular girls in the 10th grade, _and_ we're cheerleaders! Wouldn't it look good for Cerulean Prep if we were like…the first people to meet the Pokémon Master?"

"Yeah, good publicity and all that!" Charlotte chirped.

"Come on, guys, this whole thing is stupid," Dakota groaned. "Vanessa only brought our uncle here to bribe people to vote her!"

"Which is genius," Rylee replied. "I already told you that!"

"It's not like she's hurting anyone," Charlotte chimed in. "Come on, Dakota. We'd just really like to meet him!"

"Why should I encourage Vanessa's crazy plan just because you two are weirdly obsessed with my uncle?" Dakota scoffed.

"Because if we don't get to meet him, we'll take your cheer bag and hide it in the boys' locker room," Rylee threatened.

Dakota gasped dramatically. "You wouldn't!"

"Oh, we would," Rylee coolly retorted. "We already did it to Jayda after she tried taking Charlotte's pom-poms."

"And she had to wait until the _whole_ football team changed after practice to get it," Charlotte added. "She had to take three showers just to get the scent off of her."

"Alright, fine!" Dakota growled, pulling Charlotte's hands off of her shoulders. "But you both owe me for this."

Dakota marched towards her cousin, roughly pulling on her arm once she got there and getting a rise out of the blue-haired teen.

"Hey!" Vanessa cried.

"Okay, listen," Dakota whispered in an aggravated manner. "Rylee and Charlotte want to meet Uncle Ash, but they don't want to wait in this stupid line you've got going on."

"Well, that's kind of too bad," Vanessa sighed. "We have to keep it organized because a lot of people really want to meet him."

"Yeah, great," Dakota drawled. "But I think it would be in your best interest to let those two cut the line."

"Why?" Vanessa questioned.

"Because they're super popular," Dakota replied effortlessly. "If everyone else sees Rylee and Charlotte with Uncle Ash, which you _know_ those two will post all over the internet, then it'll just make even more people aware of you running for class president."

Vanessa hummed and rubbed her chin. "I never thought of that…"

With a smirk, Vanessa scurried over to Aliya and tapped her shoulder. "Hey, Dakota just gave me a really good idea!"

"What?" Aliya asked.

"She told me that Rylee and Charlotte really want to meet my uncle, but they don't want to wait in line," Vanessa explained. "But if we let them meet him right away, they'll put the pictures up all over the internet!"

Aliya's eyes widened. "They're so popular, everyone will see that in _minutes!_ "

"Which means even more people will know about my campaign, _and_ even quicker!" Vanessa squealed.

Ash, who had just finished signing a girl's notebook, peered over his shoulder and switched his eyes between Vanessa and Aliya.

"What are you guys up to now?" Ash questioned.

Neither girl bothered to answer. With an excited smile, Aliya scurried over to Rylee and Charlotte, animatedly speaking to the two older girls and motioning towards a bewildered Ash. The older girls quickly went from unimpressed to crazy excited, and before Ash could even process it, they were both standing only inches away from him.

"Hi!" Charlotte squealed.

"We're best friends with Dakota!" Rylee breathed, quickly motioning her head towards the flustered blonde. "But she never told us you were her _uncle!_ "

"Could you sign my planner?" Charlotte pleaded, holding the colorful spiral bound book out towards the Pokémon Master.

"Uh…sure!" Ash replied, his smile sending Charlotte and Rylee into another fit of shrill giggles that caused him to wince.

 _Man…I hope Michelle and Elizabeth don't make those kinds of noises when they turn into teenagers…_

"Hey, Aliya! What gives?!"

The brunette girl narrowed her deep blue eyes. "What are you complaining about _now,_ Marc?"

"How come they get to cut the whole line?" The boy demanded, pointing at the oblivious duo of Charlotte and Rylee.

"It's not cutting when they got permission to do it," Aliya replied smartly.

"Yeah? Well I don't agree," Marc seethed.

"That's your problem," Aliya scoffed, shrugging her shoulders. "You can always get off the line, you know. But if you really want to meet the world famous Pokémon Master, then you'll be patient and take the wait."

Marc still seemed annoyed, but clearly his desire to meet Ash was greater than his pride, as he closed his mouth and stood in place with an aggravated glare on his face.

"Seriously, you're like…scarily good at this," Ash commented to the girl as he handed Charlotte back her planner.

"Uncle Ash, I already told you she's mine," Vanessa sighed.

"Let's take a picture!" Rylee suddenly squealed, pulling down on Ash's shoulders until he was level with her and Charlotte.

Ash sighed as Rylee snapped away with her phone, trying to keep the forced smile on his face. "Suddenly the idea of playing dress up for the rest of my life isn't so bad…"

* * *

 **Now Ash is (even more) terrified of his daughters turning into teenagers. Oops.**


	24. More Tricks than Treats

**Happy Halloween! I hope everyone's been enjoying their Halloweekend, Halloween day/night, all that fun stuff! And eating some good candy, of course.**

 **Since it is Halloween, that calls for the annual Halloween one shot! And this year, I decided to do something a little different, something that is always very requested: older Aiden, Michelle, and Elizabeth!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 13 and a half years old**

 **Elizabeth: 8 years old**

* * *

 **More Tricks than Treats**

Elizabeth, who was sitting at the kitchen table trying to do homework, jumped when a large box was dropped in front of her. It had been courtesy of her older brother, and the girl was none too pleased about it.

"Aiden!" She hissed, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Ready to go trick or treating?" Aiden asked, ignoring the fact his sister was obviously annoyed.

"Aren't you kinda old for that?" Elizabeth scoffed as she glanced back down at her notebook.

Aiden scowled at the comment. "You're never too old to go trick or treating!"

"Yeah, that's what Daddy always says, but he's _definitely_ too old," Elizabeth sighed, shaking her head.

"If he's too old, how come people still give him candy?" Aiden challenged.

"Easy: because he's the Pokémon Master," Elizabeth replied, shrugging her shoulders as she quickly looked up at her brother. "You can't have the Pokémon Master come to your house and then not give him candy. But it's still embarrassing."

"You know what's embarrassing?" Aiden asked before snatching Elizabeth's notebook off the table. "Doing homework on Halloween."

"Hey!" Elizabeth cried, jumping up. "Give that back!"

"Lizzie, don't turn into a nerd like Michelle," Aiden practically pleaded. "I'd like to have at least one sister who's kind of cool."

Elizabeth blinked. "You think I'm cool?"

"I said kind of," Aiden corrected.

"I'm almost finished anyway," Elizabeth reasoned with him, holding her hand out. "Just give it back so I can do the last question."

"Do you _like_ doing homework?" Aiden pressed, not willing to give the notebook back so easily.

"No," Elizabeth quickly refuted, scrunching up her nose. "Who likes doing homework?"

"Michelle," Aiden answered shortly, handing the notebook back to Elizabeth. "That's why she's a nerd."

Elizabeth thought it over for a moment before agreeing, "Yeah, that's kind of nerdy."

Aiden pumped a fist before idly commenting, "I knew you were pretty cool!"

"Well one of us has to be," Elizabeth chirped, sitting back down.

Aiden snickered before slowing down to think. "Wait…you mean between you and Michelle, right?"

"No, I meant you too," Elizabeth giggled, causing Aiden's sour look to return.

"Okay, who's ready to go trick or treating?"

Elizabeth sighed as her father came running into the kitchen, obviously overflowing with excitement.

"I already asked Elizabeth, but she's being weird and doing homework," Aiden scoffed.

"You're doing homework on Halloween?" Ash asked his youngest child, raising an eyebrow. "What kind of teacher gives out homework on Halloween?"

"Pi," Pikachu agreed from his trainer's shoulder.

"It's just a little bit!" Elizabeth whined. "And no, I _don't_ like homework! So don't ask!"

"Okay, I won't," Ash chuckled, ruffling the girl's hair. He suddenly noticed the box on the table and walked up to it, slowly sifting through its contents. Pikachu jumped onto the table and stood on his hind legs in order to get his own peek inside. "What's this stuff?"

"It's for trick or treating," Aiden cheerfully replied.

"Why do you need all of this for trick or treating?" Ash questioned.

"For the trick part, duh!" Aiden laughed.

Ash's eyes widened. "Your mother didn't see this box, did she?"

"No, why?"

"Good," Ash sighed out of relief. "She _hates_ the trick part. Probably because I'm always tricking her, whether it's Halloween or not. That's why she's not so big on Halloween. At least not the tricks. She's always loved taking you guys trick or treating! But…for the treat part."

"You guys talk too much," Elizabeth noted, finally flipping her notebook closed.

"That's real funny coming from you," Aiden lightly teased. "You love to talk!"

"Yeah, but I say interesting stuff," Elizabeth calmly argued, standing up and pushing her chair away. "I'm going to put on my costume!"

"What're you being this year, pumpkin?" Ash asked sweetly.

Elizabeth beamed at the inquiry. "The White Swanna!"

Aiden, however, was not impressed. "Uh…all Swanna are white."

"The White Swanna is from Swanna Lake," Elizabeth droned.

Aiden still wasn't getting it. "And that's…?"

"A super famous ballet!" Elizabeth practically shrieked before rolling her eyes. "You really don't know anything, do you?"

"Elizabeth, that isn't nice," Ash warned his daughter.

"But it's true," Elizabeth murmured, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

"Nice try, but no matter how cute you are, that still wasn't nice," Ash stood his ground. "Say you're sorry."

"Fine," Elizabeth huffed, turning towards her brother. "I'm sorry." She then turned back towards her father. "Can I go put on my costume now?"

Ash smirked and nodded. "Yeah, go ahead."

Elizabeth smiled and called, "Pikachu! Wanna help me get ready?"

The mouse poked his head out from inside the box, now sporting some fake cobweb around his ears. Elizabeth giggled at the sight and held her arms out for the electric type, who quickly jumped into her waiting embrace. Elizabeth spun around on her toes and made a run for the stairs, disappearing from the sight of her father and brother rather quickly.

"So who do you plan on tricking?" Ash asked, turning back towards the box and plucking out a rubber Zubat.

"Whoever I can," Aiden nonchalantly replied. "I figure whichever poor sucker walks into whatever trap I set probably deserves it."

"You know, if your mom didn't hate tricks so much, I'd say you sound just like her," Ash snickered.

"Why does Aiden sound like me?"

Ash and Aiden both gasped; Ash chucking the rubber Zubat back in the box as Aiden grabbed it and hastily threw it underneath the kitchen table. Misty suddenly appeared in the doorway, her eyebrow slightly raised. She seemed happy, however, which implied that she hadn't seen the box or heard any of Ash and Aiden's prior conversation.

"No real reason," Ash chuckled. "Just makes me think of you."

"Aw, that's sweet," Misty giggled. She looked her son up and down, and frowned when she realized something was missing. "Aiden, where's your costume?"

"I'm already in it!" Aiden declared. "I'm going as myself!"

Misty rolled her eyes. "Don't be one of those kids, Aiden. If you're going to go trick or treating without a costume, then maybe you shouldn't be going."

"But Dad never dresses up and _he_ goes!" Aiden cried. "And people have no problem giving him candy!"

"That's because he's the Pokémon Master," Misty sighed. "You can't have the Pokémon Master come to your house and not give him candy. Doesn't make it any less embarrassing, though."

Aiden twisted his mouth and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling, trying to figure out why that answer sounded so familiar.

"Hey, it's not embarrassing!" Ash retorted. "I just really like Halloween, that's all! Besides, you should be grateful. I always share my candy with you."

Misty smirked and shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, good point."

"Okay, I'm ready!"

Aiden, Ash, and Misty looked towards the stairs, and found Elizabeth scurrying down them with Pikachu at her feet. When she reached the doorway and became fully visible, so did her costume: a white leotard and tutu adorned by feathers and rhinestones, with white feathers also wrapped around her upper arms and placed across her back. She had tied her dark red hair up into a bun, decorated with a sparkly tiara and white feathers clipped onto the sides of her head.

"Oh, sweetie, you look so beautiful!" Misty fussed, clasping her hands together.

"Yeah, that's an awesome costume!" Ash agreed. "I bet everyone will think you're the _real_ White Swanna!"

"Thanks!" Elizabeth giggled. "Wait until you see Michelle!"

Misty blinked. "Michelle?"

"Mmhm!"

"I didn't think Michelle was coming with us," Misty admitted. "She said she wasn't interested."

"Yeah, but I didn't want her to stay here without us!" Elizabeth chirped. "So I convinced her to come!"

"No she didn't. She _made_ me."

Elizabeth laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck as Michelle slowly descended the stairs, looking _and_ sounding less than pleased. She was dressed almost identically to Elizabeth, except her costume was black instead of white.

"You two have matching costumes, that's adorable!" Misty squealed, her eyes sparkling. "I _have_ to take pictures!"

"No, please don't," Michelle groaned, slumping her shoulders. There was no getting out of it, however, as Misty had already gotten a hold of her phone. Aiden snickered, earning a vicious glare from his twin sister.

"Michelle, you shouldn't be embarrassed," Ash assured his older daughter with a smile. "You look really pretty! And you're doing something nice for your little sister."

"Yeah!" Elizabeth agreed, grabbing her sister's hand. "That's why you're my favorite, Shelly!"

Michelle perked up at the title, while Aiden stopped snickering. "Really? Your favorite?"

Elizabeth grinned and nodded her head.

"Well, I guess I can live with being dressed like this for a _little while_ ," Michelle conceded, finally offering her mother a noticeable smile.

"Aw, that's my girls!" Misty giggled, snapping another picture of the two.

As she lowered her phone, Elizabeth glanced over at Aiden, and shot him her own sneaky smile. "Aiden, what're _you_ dressing up as?"

"Nothing," Aiden scoffed, obviously still annoyed by Elizabeth's declaration that Michelle was her favorite sibling. "I may not be too old for trick or treating, but I'm _definitely_ too old to be dressing up."

"That doesn't make any sense," Michelle muttered, narrowing her eyes.

Elizabeth, however, simply bent her lips into a frown. "You can't go out without a costume!"

"Sure I can," Aiden replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Aiden, it _is_ going to look a bit silly when both Michelle and Elizabeth are dressed up," Misty reasoned with her son.

" _And_ Pikachu," Michelle added, pointing towards the mouse. He was wearing a pointy, witch-like hat that flopped over on one side.

"He's the evil sorcerer who turns me into a Swanna," Elizabeth giggled.

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu playfully growled, trying to stress his role.

"Nah, I'll be fine," Aiden refuted, waving a hand to shake off the idea.

Michelle and Elizabeth exchanged glances before looking towards their father, both of them frowning. Ash's breath caught as soon as he saw them, and he slowly turned his attention onto Aiden. "Buddy, come on. It's only for a few hours. Why don't you just join in on the fun?"

"Because it's not fun," Aiden deadpanned.

Ash sighed. He knew he didn't have a choice. Stepping forward, he leaned over to be closer to his son's ear and whispered, "Aiden, if you do this for your sisters, I'll help you pull off one of the greatest tricks ever."

Aiden raised an eyebrow, seemingly interested in the proposition. "Really?"

"Yeah," Ash assured him. "And all you have to do is wear a costume for a little while. Deal?"

Aiden thought about it for a moment before breaking out into a toothy grin. "Deal!"

"Yay!" Elizabeth cheered. "I have the perfect costume for you, Aiden!"

"Great!" Aiden cheered. "Bring it on!"

 **XXX**

"I should've never agreed to this."

Michelle slapped a hand over her mouth to try and muffle her laughter, while Elizabeth circled her brother with a look of admiration.

"Why? You look so good!" Elizabeth squeaked. "I bet you could even find a girlfriend dressed like that!"

Aiden's face actually managed to turn redder. Since Elizabeth was fully committed to the Swanna Lake theme, she had given Aiden a prince costume, complete with a jeweled crown and a bright red jacket trimmed in gold.

"Aiden's already got a girlfriend," Michelle teased. "But we _could_ send her some pictures…"

"I do not have a girlfriend!" Aiden bit, his hands balling up into fists at his sides. "And you're not sending pictures to anybody!"

The sound of a camera snapping went off, and Aiden whipped around with fury in his eyes. Misty's phone was back in her hands, but as soon as she saw Aiden was now facing her, she grinned sheepishly and lowered the phone.

"Sorry, I just can't help myself!" Misty giggled. "You look _so handsome!_ Your grandmother is going to love this!"

"Which one?" Aiden grumbled.

"Um…both of them," Misty replied, realizing that was actually the correct response.

"Let's just get this over with," Aiden grumbled.

"I thought you were excited to go trick or treating!" Elizabeth cried.

"Yeah, just to get candy," Aiden scoffed, holding his pillowcase out for emphasis. "I didn't think I'd be all dressed up like this! Now it's just humiliating."

"You know, you used to _love_ wearing a costume," Misty sighed as she reminisced. "Your favorite was when you dressed up like your father."

"Heh, that was my favorite too," Ash chuckled at the memory.

"Yeah, well, I'm a little too old for costumes now," Aiden refuted, his cheeks turning pink.

"But you're not too old to go trick or treating?" Michelle questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I'm not!" Aiden groaned. "Come on. We're wasting precious time!"

And with that, the boy stomped off, still annoyed by the whole situation. Michelle and Elizabeth simply giggled at their brother's misery, which caught their mother's attention.

"You two really had to aggravate your brother like that, huh?" She questioned.

"It's not our fault Aiden gets bothered so easily," Michelle nonchalantly replied. "Want to catch up with him, Lizzie? Before he takes every piece of candy from every single house."

"Yeah!" Elizabeth chirped. "Let's go!"

The two girls ran off in the same direction as their brother, managing to catch up with him quite easily. Misty wasn't concerned about staying too close; Aiden and Michelle were older and experienced Pokémon trainers used to traveling on their own at this point, after all. She knew Elizabeth was in good hands with them. But she started to head that way as well, albeit much more slowly. Ash walked alongside her, Pikachu having hopped up on his shoulder in the meantime.

"They sure are funny," Ash chuckled, casting a glance over at his wife.

"They get it from their parents," Misty teased with a smirk.

"Hey, that's a nice compliment!" Ash crowed.

"I can give those every once in a while," Misty confirmed. "Anyway, I think this is really nice: not having to chase after the kids from house-to-house. They're all old enough now that we can give them some space!"

"I kind of miss the chasing," Ash admitted.

"You would," Misty sighed, though she was still smiling.

"I just think it was really nice of Aiden and Michelle to come home so they could be here for Elizabeth on Halloween," Ash continued, watching as the kids ran up to their first house and rang the bell. "Although they might be regretting it at this point."

"Aiden more so than Michelle," Misty snickered. "He's a tough boy, but it's never easy when Michelle and Elizabeth team up. And the older they get, the more they seem to do it."

"You're telling me," Ash muttered. "I always fall for their little tricks!"

"You mean like before?" Misty questioned, raising an eyebrow. "The whole reason Aiden had to wear a costume?"

"Yeah, but it's fine, I convinced him," Ash replied, his eyes widening when he realized he'd said a bit too much.

"Convinced him?" Misty repeated, sounding cautiously curious. "How?"

"It was no big deal," Ash refuted, trying his best not to get flustered. Misty couldn't know about his promise to help Aiden pull off a wild trick! "Just with some…candy. I told him I'd share my candy with him."

Misty didn't seem convinced, but she dropped the conversation, which was enough to ease Ash's mind.

"Man, that house was great!"

Ash and Misty both turned their heads to see their son and daughters walking back towards them, although Aiden was the one who seemed particularly pleased.

"They had full-sized candy bars," Aiden continued, holding one up for emphasis.

"The rich always have the best Halloween candy," Ash sighed knowingly.

"Ash!" Misty hissed.

"What?" Ash innocently asked. "It's true."

"I even got an extra one just for you, Dad!" Aiden added, handing another bar over to his father.

"Yes!" Ash cheered, accepting the candy. "Thanks, champ!"

"We're gonna head to the next house," Michelle announced, nodding her head to the side.

"Yeah, I bet there are more full-size candy bars all down this street!" Elizabeth cheered, pointing in the same direction Michelle had just nodded towards.

"Mmm, I might have to join this time…" Ash mused, rubbing his chin.

Misty smirked and rolled her eyes. "You're ridiculous."

"Misty, anybody at any age can appreciate free, full-sized candy bars," Ash reasoned with her.

"Of course, my mistake," Misty droned. "Go ahead. I'll take up the rear."

"Let's go!" Elizabeth shouted, taking a running start. Michelle followed suit, but Ash and Aiden followed behind at a slower pace.

"So, what's this 'greatest trick ever' you promised to help me with?" Aiden asked, dropping his voice low so Misty wouldn't overhear him.

Ash quickly glanced from side-to-side before replying, "It's one that I used to pull all the time as a kid. Did you bring that rubber Zubat with you?"

"Yeah, it's in my pillowcase," Aiden confirmed.

"And the invisible string and powder bomb?"

Aiden furrowed his brow "I have all of it. I just don't get what it's for."

"Well, I'll show you," Ash chuckled slyly. "But first we have to find a good spot to hide out and pull it off from."

"Which would be fine if we weren't surrounded by everyone else," Aiden grumbled, nodding towards his sisters and mother. "How are we supposed to get away from them?"

Ash smirked at his son's inquiry. "You've still got a lot to learn about pulling off high quality tricks, champ. Watch."

He backtracked until he was back at pace with Misty, who seemed confused by his sudden move.

"May I help you?" She teased.

"Aiden and I just overheard some kids talking about a house up ahead that's giving out giant bags of candy," Ash smoothly replied. "You okay with us going over to check it out?"

"Yeah, you don't have to ask me for permission," Misty snickered. "You _are_ an adult, you know."

"I do, but I like to check with you first," Ash purred, winking at her.

"Aw, aren't you the sweetest?" Misty crooned, giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

"Hey! Quit making out! There's too many kids around!"

Misty raised an eyebrow and turned her head to shoot her youngest daughter, the source of that protest, an icy look. "Kids like you?"

"Yeah," Elizabeth coolly confirmed.

Misty sighed and refocused on Ash. "You and Aiden head over to that other house. I'll stay with the girls. And try not to lose patience with our _precious_ youngest daughter."

"I have faith in you," Ash chuckled, patting his wife's shoulder before calling to Aiden, "come on, champ! Let's go check out that house!"

Aiden robotically nodded his head and followed after his father. The two hurried along the sidewalk, moving at a brisk but even pace. For a moment, Aiden thought his father really was taking him to a house, but that was settled as soon as Ash motioned towards a large oak tree standing at the corner.

"A tree?" Aiden questioned.

"Chu?" Pikachu added.

"This one is perfect," Ash muttered, nodding his head. "Alright, let's hide behind the trunk. Make sure no one sees us!"

Aiden looked around before slinking after his father, squaring up his shoulders to make himself as slim as possible. It wasn't all that hard, considering Aiden was already a relatively thin and average heighted boy, but he didn't want to get caught before he and his dad could pull off this "really cool" prank.

"Now what?" Aiden asked, keeping his voice low.

"Take the invisible string and tie it around the rubber Zubat," Ash instructed. "Then we'll throw it over one of the branches. But don't hang it low enough so anyone can see it. Keep it hidden in the leaves."

Aiden grabbed the string and looped it around the middle of the Zubat, tying it good and tight so the fake Pokémon wouldn't slip out. Once he was sure it was secure, he tossed it over the lowest tree limb, but made sure to keep his arms rigid so it wouldn't slide down too low and make itself visible.

"Great," Ash complimented his son. "Now all we have to do is wait for someone to come by. Once they get close enough to the tree, I'll throw the powder bomb to confuse them, and then you can lower the rubber Zubat so that's the first thing they see once the smoke clears."

"Can I swing it around so it looks like it's flying?" Aiden breathed excitedly.

"Of course, that's the best way to do it!" Ash chuckled.

Aiden grinned and peered slyly around the tree. "Oh! Some people are coming!"

"Great!" Ash cheered. "Oh, wait…they're not really little kids, are they? I may like playing tricks, but I'm not a jerk."

"Nah, they're bigger kids," Aiden refuted.

"That's okay, they probably won't get _too_ scared," Ash decided. "Are they close enough for me to throw the powder bomb?"

"Almost…almost…now!"

Ash quickly threw his arm back and tossed the small ball of packed white powder. It evidently hit the sidewalk and burst, causing his and Aiden's victims to shriek loudly. Aiden lowered the Zubat and watched intently as the powder began to clear. Once it did, he could see the rubber Pokémon was perfectly positioned only inches away from the kids, which caused them to scream even louder and grab onto one another out of fear.

"That was so cool!" Aiden laughed wildly.

"Told you it was a good one!" Ash crowed, laughing just as much as his son.

"Michelle! Elizabeth! Are you both ok-ZUBAT!"

Ash and Aiden quickly stopped laughing. Pikachu, who hadn't been laughing in the first place, suddenly looked very nervous.

"Pi-ka…"

"Um…that didn't sound good…" Aiden stammered.

Ash groaned and jumped up, stepping out from behind the tree. Indeed, Michelle and Elizabeth were cowering together, Misty not far behind them.

"Guys, it's alright!" Ash assured them, making lowering motions with his hands. "It's not a real Zubat!"

" _What?!_ " Misty squealed, throwing her arms down. "How do you know…wait a second, did you just come out from behind that tree?!"

"Uh…yeah…" Ash sheepishly admitted.

"Daddy, you pulled a trick on us?!" Elizabeth yelled.

"I didn't realize it was you guys!" Ash cried.

"You shouldn't be pulling tricks on _anybody_!" Misty stormed. "You're a grown man, Ash!"

"I can still like tricks…" Ash murmured, poking his fingers together.

"You are impossible," Misty growled. "You told me that you and Aiden were going ahead to another house! You totally lied to me! And where is he?"

"Um…he's uh-"

"He's still behind the tree, isn't he?" Michelle deadpanned.

Before Ash could answer, Elizabeth stomped forward and smacked the rubber Zubat out of her way, peering around the tree trunk.

"You're a jerk!" Elizabeth screamed.

"Yeah, he's behind the tree," Michelle sighed.

"Aiden, get out from behind there!" Misty ordered.

Aiden quickly reappeared, his eyes set wide and his face pale. Misty, however, immediately turned her attention back onto Ash.

"You are such a bad influence," she sighed.

"Come on, Mist, we were just having a little fun!" Ash cried.

"It's not fun to scare people," Elizabeth argued.

"Elizabeth, you scare people all the time," Aiden reminded his younger sister.

"Yeah, but not like _that_ ," Elizabeth scoffed. "That fake Zubat is creepy!"

"Did you do this because Elizabeth made you dress up?" Michelle questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Kind of, yeah," Aiden admitted. He saw no point in lying. "Lizzie may think this dumb group costume thing is fun, but I happen to think pulling tricks is fun."

"So you did this for revenge," Michelle concluded.

"Revenge is such an ugly word," Aiden sighed, shaking his head.

"Alright, how about we just drop this?" Ash decided. "Aiden got to have his fun, and it really wasn't _that_ bad. Now we can keep on trick or treating…without the trick part."

"We can drop this _for now_ ," Misty corrected. "You two aren't off the hook for this little stunt."

"Misty…"

"Do you want to get any more candy this Halloween, Ash?"

The Pokémon Master grimaced and let out a short puff of air. "Yes."

Elizabeth giggled at the interaction, while Pikachu rolled his beady black eyes and Aiden and Michelle silently furrowed their brows.

"Then pick up the pace," Misty commanded. "And I'll deal with you and Aiden when we get home."

"Alright kids, you heard your mother," Ash announced, clapping his hands together. "Let's go!"

He ran ahead of the rest of the family, leaving them behind in a bewildered state.

"Dad really does love Halloween," Michelle noted.

"Just for the candy and the tricking, though," Elizabeth added.

"Well yeah, those _are_ the best parts," Aiden stressed.

"Not the tricking," Misty patiently reminded her son.

"I think it is!" Aiden cried.

"Do _you_ want more candy, Aiden?"

The boy grumbled and tightened his hands into fists at his sides. "Yeah, yeah, I'm going."

* * *

 **I hope you all enjoyed this year's Halloween installment!**

 **I'll see everyone again tomorrow for the start of Pokeshipping Week!**


	25. The Dinner Party

**It's Thanksgiving here, which happens to be one of my favorite holidays because I love food!**

 **While I don't think Thanksgiving is something that would be celebrated in the Pokémon world, I like to incorporate the overall theme of the holiday, so I thought it'd be fun to take this route!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 12 and a half**

 **Elizabeth: 7**

* * *

 **The Dinner Party**

Elizabeth yawned and slumped against the couch's armrest, watching through the doorway as her mother and sister bustled around the adjacent dining room.

"Don't you guys wanna take a break?" Elizabeth asked tiredly. She'd been helping them out before, for quite a while in fact, but she was beginning to lose steam. And for her, that was unusual. It was just really hard to keep up with Misty and Michelle when they were that frenzied, even for the bubbly and energetic Elizabeth.

"Lizzie, we don't have time to take a break," Michelle grumbled, straightening out the edges of the cotton tablecloth. It was a rich bronze color with an elegant damask design; a perfect match for the fall season. "Everything has to be perfect, and we're running out of time!"

"It looks fine to me," Elizabeth innocently squeaked, shrugging her shoulders. "No one's that picky about the way a table is decorated anyway!"

Misty's lips twitched into a smirk. "Sweetie, have you ever met Dawn or Serena?"

"They're not picky," Elizabeth refuted. "They just like fancy stuff! I do too. And I say the table is fine, which means _they'll_ think its fine!"

Misty giggled and continued folding the matching napkins into an intricate fan shape, stuffing them through a decorative ring. "Well, since you're so confident about that, why don't you help me put these around the table?"

"Fine," Elizabeth sighed, getting to her feet. "Only because it'll make things go quicker and _then_ you guys can take a break!"

"Maybe," Michelle quickly interjected, leading Elizabeth to roll her eyes. The younger girl started to gather the completed napkin sets, walking around the table to place one atop each plate. When she got the last setting, however, she realized she was out of napkins.

"Huh?" Elizabeth muttered before glancing towards her mother. "Mommy, you didn't give me enough napkins!"

Misty raised an eyebrow. "I counted them out, and I had just the right number."

Elizabeth held up her empty hands. "I don't have any more."

"Where could it have gone?" Misty sighed, rubbing her temple.

Michelle looked around the table, wondering if her mother or sister had accidentally left the neatly folded napkin somewhere. As her eyes wandered towards the floor, however, she caught sight of the missing cloth, and let out a huff.

"I found it," Michelle announced.

"Where?" Elizabeth squeaked, looking all around.

Silently, Michelle pointed towards the floor. Misty and Elizabeth both took a peek, eyes widening when they saw the little ball of yellow fur batting the napkin around like it was prey.

"Pichu, that's not a toy!" Elizabeth cried, kneeling down to retrieve the napery from the little mouse.

"Chu…" The electric type whined, holding her paws out towards the little girl.

"Come on, Pichu, I know they call you a baby Pokémon, but you're not actually a baby anymore," Michelle reasoned with her unhappy partner. "Don't you think it's time to stop causing trouble?"

Pichu quickly shook her head, large ears bobbing. Despite scolding the mouse before, Elizabeth started to giggle at the Pokémon's response to Michelle's question.

"Elizabeth, don't encourage her!" Michelle whined.

"But she's so cute!" Elizabeth squealed, picking up the small mouse and rubbing their noses together.

The sound of a door opening tore Pichu's attention away from her cuddle session with Elizabeth. The small mouse instead jumped onto the young girl's shoulder, and intently watched the front door as it slowly swung open. Ash appeared in the entryway, Pikachu on his shoulder and Aiden trailing closely behind. Both were carrying in several grocery bags, filled to the brim with various food items.

"Daddy!" Elizabeth chirped, running towards her father and attaching herself to his side.

"Hey, pumpkin!" Ash chuckled. "You missed me?"

"Uh huh," Elizabeth confirmed, letting go of him.

"Have you been helping out Mommy and Michelle while Aiden and I were gone?" Ash asked.

"Uh huh!" Elizabeth repeated.

"Did you guys find everything okay?" Misty called, still fussing over the dining room table.

"Of course," Ash chuckled. "I know the grocery store like the back of my hand!"

"That didn't make it any less boring though," Aiden scoffed.

Misty raised an eyebrow at her son's comment. "Would you rather have stayed here to help your sisters and I set the table?"

"No, definitely not," Aiden quickly replied.

Ash playfully rolled his eyes at the banter. "Come on, champ. Let's go put this stuff down in the kitchen."

"Alright," Aiden sighed.

"Oh, wait!" Elizabeth cried. "Can Pikachu stay here and play with me and Pichu?"

Ash turned his attention onto his partner. "That sound good to you, buddy?"

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu confirmed. He jumped off Ash's shoulder and, once on the floor, beckoned for Pichu to follow after him. The smaller mouse sniggered and leapt off Elizabeth's shoulder, while the young girl herself knelt down to join the two Pokémon.

"Lizzie, I thought you were going to finish helping us out!" Misty cried.

"Oh, I still can," Elizabeth squeaked, sheepishly pulling her shoulders back. "I just missed Pikachu was all! And Pichu did too, and Pichu always wants to play when Pikachu is around. And it's not good to work for so long!"

Misty smirked and shook her head. Her daughter may have been young, but she certainly thought she was persuasive. "Alright then. You don't have to keep on working. Have fun!"

Ash and Aiden, meanwhile, had already walked into the kitchen. Aiden had been just about to place his grocery bags on the table when Ash swooped in and stopped him.

"Not there!" Ash warned.

"Why not?" Aiden groaned.

Ash wordlessly nodded his head towards the table. The whole thing was set up in a similar fashion to the dining room table, if just slightly less elegant.

"Oh yeah, the stupid kids' table," Aiden grumbled. "Do I really have to sit in here? I'm not actually a kid, after all."

"You're not actually an adult either," Ash teased, accompanied by a playful smirk on his face.

"Pokémon trainers are adults," Aiden replied quite seriously.

"And you're right, by law," Ash chuckled. "Unfortunately, in this house, we follow your _mother's_ laws, not Kanto's."

"I don't think Officer Jenny would like to hear that," Aiden commented, reaching into one of the grocery bags to pull out a carton of milk.

"You're gonna call Officer Jenny on your mother?" Ash deadpanned.

"No," Aiden quickly scoffed. "I enjoy living, thank you very much."

Ash laughed, walking a bag of tomatoes over to the counter. "You know, it's really not that bad sitting at the kids' table! The younger kids all look up to you. It'll be like having dinner with your biggest fans!"

"That's always what you said about Elizabeth," Aiden muttered, digging through the next bag of groceries. "Now all she does is make fun of me and acts like it's so funny."

"Maybe, but not when she was younger," Ash reasoned with his son. "Besides, you know she still loves you!"

"None of this is making me feel better about getting stuck at the lame kids' table," Aiden informed his father.

Ash finally walked away from the groceries in order to place a hand on his son's shoulder. "It's only for one night. This dinner party is a _really_ big deal for your mom. She's super excited to have all our friends together, but she's also pretty nervous about it."

"Why's she nervous?" Aiden asked, raising an eyebrow. "They're your friends. Actually, they're more like our family."

"That's _why_ she's nervous," Ash stressed. "She just wants everything to be perfect. So we have to help her out as much as possible. You can do that, right?"

"Yeah!" Aiden replied warmly. "I'm crazy helpful!"

"That's my boy!" Ash practically cheered, removing his son's hat to ruffle his hair. "Come on, let's go see if the girls need any help."

Aiden begrudgingly took his hat back but didn't put it back on, knowing he shouldn't be wearing it inside, and followed his father into the dining room.

"It looks really nice in here," Ash commented, observing the fully decorated table. "You guys did a great job! Need anything else?"

"No, I think we should stop for tonight," Misty decided, slumping her shoulders. "The longer I look at it, the more frustrated I get."

"Why?" Ash asked innocently. "Everything looks awesome!"

"It does," Misty conceded. "But could it look _better?_ "

"No way!" Ash calmly argued. "There's nothing better than awesome, Misty. You've pretty much hit the peak here."

"Are you just saying that?" Misty demanded, folding her arms.

"No," Ash refuted once again. "Why would I just be saying it?"

"Because you're my husband?"

"So? I know we had to sign stuff when we got married, but I'm almost positive none of it said I had to make stuff up just to appease you."

Misty smirked. "Fine. You win."

Michelle's whole face suddenly lit up. "Does this mean we're done?"

Misty seemed about to disagree, so Ash quickly cut her off. "Yep, all done! You kids should go hang out for a bit and relax. I know this whole thing has been pretty stressful for all of us."

Aiden and Michelle both nodded happily before heading in the direction of the living room, where Ash assumed they were going to watch TV. Elizabeth had already disappeared with Pichu and Pikachu, the three of them off playing somewhere.

"Ash, I'm starting to think this dinner party was a _big_ mistake," Misty groaned.

"Come on, Mist, it's gonna be so much fun!" Ash pressed. "It's been so long since we were with all of our friends!"

"That part is fine," Misty grumbled, wrapping her arms around herself. "It's every other aspect that's freaking me out. I mean, it's not easy to cook for 30 people."

"I don't think it's easy to cook for _two_ people," Ash agreed. "But Mallow already agreed to help you out! Actually, she begged. I honestly think she's coming all the way from Alola mostly because she was so excited to help in the kitchen."

"It's very nice of her, but she's a professional chef," Misty sighed. "My cooking doesn't hold a candle compared to Mallow's."

"Well, it's a good thing no one is coming for a cooking contest," Ash quipped.

Misty arched an eyebrow. "You are in rare form tonight, aren't you?"

"Only because I don't like to hear you beating yourself up," Ash laughed softly. "That's not the confident, strong Misty I know and love!"

"Believe me, I _am_ that Misty," she sniffed. "I'm just also smart. So, I'm smart enough to know that this is going to be a _big_ challenge."

"Challenges are fun," Ash countered.

In one swift motion, Misty strode forward and pressed her lips against Ash's. He was taken off guard at first, but managed to settle himself and reciprocate quite quickly. After a few beats, Misty pulled away and laced her arms around Ash's neck, fluttering her eyelashes at him.

"Not that I don't appreciate it, but what was that for?" Ash asked huskily.

"To get you to stop talking," Misty answered seductively.

Ash pouted, which caused Misty to giggle.

"I should've known."

* * *

 **There'll be a Part 2 featuring the actual party (and all your favorite characters!) but I wanted to get the story out before the end of the day, and because condensing the whole thing was making it a bit too long.**

 **So be on the lookout for Part 2. It's coming your way soon!**


	26. The Dinner Party: Part 2

**Here it is: part 2 of The Dinner Party!**

 **This one came out pretty long...and that's not even including the long list of characters below this paragraph! But hopefully you'll all enjoy these appearances from some of your favorite characters!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 12 and a half**

 **Elizabeth: 7**

 **Koa: 14**

 **Basil, Kokum, Sage: 13**

 **Kahula: 12**

 **Damien: 12**

 **Rosie: 9**

 **Kalili: 9**

 **Kady: 5**

 **Bella: 5**

 **Clara: 3**

 **Alex: 1**

 **Lucia: 5 months**

* * *

 **The Dinner Party: Part 2**

The next day, the Ketchum house was absolutely buzzing.

The Alolan gang had been the first to arrive; Lillie, Lana, Sophocles, Kiawe, Mallow, and their three children: Koa, Kahula, and Kalili. Both Ash and Misty were surprised, largely because Mallow in particular had a habit of being a bit scatterbrained and, in turn, showing up to events late. The surprise was evident on both Ash and Misty's faces from the second they opened the door and saw Mallow leading the charge.

"She basically dragged us all out of the hotel," Kiawe tiredly informed the couple. "Needless to say, she's very excited about helping out with the cooking."

"You really don't mind not taking a day off from the kitchen?" Misty asked nervously.

"Nope!" Mallow quickly chirped. "I _love_ cooking! I'll do it anytime, anywhere!"

"Hey, as long as you're happy!" Ash chuckled, moving out of the doorway and extending his arm. "Come on in!"

The group entered the house, looking around as they walked in. Aiden, Michelle, and Elizabeth had been lingering by the foyer, and as soon as they saw the three other kids enter, they made their charge. The six of them all happily reunited, excitedly chattering as they moved into the next room.

"Well that didn't take much," Misty giggled.

"It's _perfect!_ " Mallow exclaimed. "Nothing to distract us while we cook! C'mon, Misty!"

Without another word or any further guidance, Mallow marched straight into the kitchen. Misty blinked and turned towards the rest of the group, who seemed just as thrown off as she was.

"She's never been in our house before, but she knows _exactly_ where the kitchen is."

"It _is_ impressive," Lana admitted.

"Why don't you guys have a seat in the living room?" Ash suggested. "We left out a bunch of snacks in there, and I can get everybody something to drink!"

" _Now_ you're talking my language!" Sophocles chuckled.

"Maybe I should help you out with the drinks," Kiawe warily suggested. "You juggling that many glasses at once can't end well."

"I'd argue, but you're probably right," Ash quipped.

Before either one could move for the drinks, however, the doorbell rang again.

"I'll get it," Ash offered, heading back into the foyer. This time, it was Iris and Cilan with their own three children: Basil, Kokum, and Sage. "Hey guys!"

"We're not too early, are we?" Iris fretted. "Cilan was totally freaking out about being late and driving me crazy, but now I'm thinking we showed up too soon."

"It's better to be early to an affair than late," Cilan patiently reminded her.

"Nah, you're fine!" Ash assured them. "You're actually not the first people here."

"We're not?" Iris asked, obviously surprised.

"My friends from Alola just got here a few minutes ago," Ash explained. "Mallow was really excited about helping Misty out in the kitchen, so she brought everyone here with her."

" _Dragged_ us here with her," Sophocles corrected from the next room.

"Oh, Misty needs help in the kitchen?" Cilan asked, his eyes shining. "I'd be happy to lend an extra hand as well!"

"Really?" Ash questioned. "You don't have to-"

"No, please, let him help," Iris breathed. "Otherwise he's just gonna bore us all with train talk."

"On the contrary, trains are the exact opposite of boring!" Cilan practically gasped. "But I'd be happy to wait to discuss the latest advances in locomotive technology until after I've assisted in the kitchen."

"Yeah, you do that," Iris teased, smirking at the jubilant connoisseur.

"Where are Aiden and Michelle?" Sage suddenly spoke up, her eyes flickering between Ash and the space behind him.

"Sage, don't be rude," Cilan softly warned his daughter.

"It's totally fine!" Ash chuckled. "I'm pretty sure they all headed downstairs. Their friends from Alola are with them too. I'm sure they'll introduce you and you'll all get along great!"

"Go on," Iris gently nudged the three. None of them hesitated to scurry inside the house, knowing exactly where the stairway to the basement was.

"I'll just head on into the kitchen and see where Misty and Mallow are at," Cilan informed his wife and friend, offering Ash a small bow before brushing past him.

"Well, we also brought you some fresh berries," Iris sighed, smiling as she handed Ash a canvas bag full of the colorful produce. "Thought it might be a nice addition as a dessert, especially since the Pokémon can eat them too."

"Thanks, that's great!" Ash cheered. "Come on, I'll take you into the living room."

Ash led the dragon master into the next room, where Lana and Sophocles were sitting next to each other, picking out of the bowls of chips and pretzels sitting in front of them.

"Lana, Sophocles, do you guys remember Iris?" Ash asked, motioning towards her.

"Oh yeah, the Unova champion!" Lana marveled, her eyes widening in excitement.

"Nice to see you guys again!" Iris giggled.

"You too!" Sophocles returned.

"Ash! I thought you were going to help Kiawe!"

The Pokémon Master looked up sheepishly, finding Misty had poked her head out of the kitchen doorway and was glaring at him.

"Well, technically he was going to help _me_ …"

"It's no problem," Kiawe assured Misty as he slipped out of the kitchen, carrying a tray with filled glasses. "I actually think it might be better to keep Ash away from things that could spill or break."

"Not a bad point," Misty airily agreed.

"Guys!" Ash whined.

The doorbell rang again, alerting Misty's attention.

"Oh, Ash could you-"

"I'm on it," Ash grumbled, turning back towards the door.

"Thank you, Ashy!" Misty called, bringing a delicate blush to her husband's face. He had never gotten used to being called that in front of other people. He didn't mind Misty using the nickname, but in front of their friends? That was a little embarrassing.

Shaking it off, Ash opened the door and let out a sigh of relief when he saw who it was.

"Brock!"

"What's up, bud?"

The two friends locked hands and shook before raising them up and letting go. Suzy, Brock's wife, was standing next to him with their daughters Bella and Lucia.

"Hi, Suzy!" Ash greeted the Pokémon breeder.

"Hi, Ash, nice to see you!" Suzy returned.

"I brought a little something for dinner," Brock informed Ash, handing him a plastic shopping bag filled with plastic containers.

"There's multiple things in here," Ash replied, peeking into the bag.

"Fine, I brought _some things_ for dinner," Brock corrected himself. "I know Misty said not to, but I wasn't about to show up empty handed."

"Don't worry, she'll act all tough and scold you for doing it, but in reality, she's going to be grateful," Ash assured his best friend. "She literally has both Mallow and Cilan helping her out in the kitchen right now. Not because she wanted to; they both insisted."

"Oh, so I could go in there and help out too without getting my head cut off?" Brock snickered.

"If you want to try it," Ash chuckled.

"I will," Brock replied, grinning at the younger male.

"Bella, do you want to go play with the other kids?" Ash sweetly asked the older of the two girls, bending down to look her in the eyes.

"Yeah!" Bella cheered, her brown eyes sparkling.

"I'll take her downstairs," Ash offered, holding his hand out towards Bella who happily took it. "You guys head into the living room!"

"I think I'll come with you so I can say hi to the kids before I attempt to lend a hand in the kitchen," Brock said. "Just in case Misty ends me."

"She won't end you!" Ash laughed. "Well, _probably_ won't."

"Comforting," Brock teasingly commented.

"Come on, Bella!" Ash cheered, playfully skipping away from the front door with the girl's hand still in his. "Let's go see your friends!"

"Kay!" Bella giggled.

The two soon reached the basement door, Brock trailing calmly behind them. Ash opened up the door, Bella curiously peering down the stairs when the sound of boisterous chatter and laughter came blasting from below.

"Wow, sounds like they're having a lot of fun down there!" Ash marveled.

"I wanna see!" Bella squealed.

"Just make sure you go down slowly, okay?" Brock called. "I don't want you to fall and get hurt."

Bella nodded her head and reached over to grab the railing, slowly descending the steps one foot at a time.

"Aw, look at how good she listens to you," Ash chuckled. "I wish my kids were that cooperative!"

"I'm sure they are when they feel like it," Brock laughed. "Trust me, Bella isn't always so ready and willing, either."

They followed Bella down the stairs, and were greeted by the older children split off into different groups. Aiden, Koa, Kahula, Basil, and Kokum were gathered around the TV, engaged in some kind of video game tournament. Michelle and Sage were sitting behind them on the couch, watching what appeared to be different contest appeals on Michelle's tablet. On the other side of the room, near the wall, Elizabeth and Kalili were giggling while showing off their dance moves to one another. Almost instantly, that's who Ash knew Bella would be best off with, and it seemed Bella did as well.

"Lizzie!" Bella cried, scurrying towards the redhead.

Elizabeth landed the pirouette she'd just been performing and beamed at the smaller blonde girl. "Hi, Bella!"

The younger girl jumped into the older one's arms, and Elizabeth was happy to lift Bella off the ground as best as she could. There wasn't _that_ big of an age difference between them, which was why they got along so well, but Elizabeth couldn't help but to also view Bella like a younger sister, and loved doting on her as a result.

"Aww, she's so cute!" Kalili gushed.

Ash smiled. Mallow had told him that Kalili was very similar to Elizabeth in that despite being the youngest sibling, she adored younger kids and babies, to the extent that she often acted like an older sister or even a mother to the younger students at The Pokémon School back home.

"Bella, this is my friend Kalili," Elizabeth informed the younger girl as she placed her back on her feet. "She's all the way from Alola!"

"Have you ever been there?" Kalili excitedly asked.

Bella silently shook her head.

"Well, you should come visit sometime!" Kalili declared. "It's so pretty there! And it's warm and sunny all the time!"

"Kalili lives on a ranch with all kinds of Pokémon," Elizabeth added. " _And_ she goes to a school that's all about Pokémon, too! So…Kalili knows a whole lot about them!"

"Wow," Bella marveled, her eyes widening.

"Yep, it's super cool!" Kalili commented. "You must like Pokémon then too, huh?"

"Yeah!" Bella chirped. "My mommy and daddy are Pokémon breeders, and my other daddy is a Pokémon doctor! They teach me all about Pokémon."

"That's awesome!" Kalili squealed.

"Anyway, Kalili and I were just practicing dancing," Elizabeth told Bella. "Kalili dances just like me, except she does stuff like hula dancing."

"Ooh, can I show you what I just learned in gymnastics?" Bella asked.

"Yeah, I'd love to see it!" Elizabeth giggled.

"Me too!" Kalili cheered.

Ash and Brock had managed to melt away in the background as the three young girls effortlessly bonded with one another, not at all needed to prod it along.

"That was easy," Brock chuckled.

"Elizabeth and Kalili are like clones of each other, personality wise," Ash mused. "It doesn't surprise me that she and Bella hit it off like that! Those three are going to have the best time."

With Bella settled, Ash and Brock headed back upstairs. When they got there, they saw that Dawn, Kenny, Serena, Clemont, and their children had all arrived in the meantime. Dawn and Kenny's daughter Kady was timidly playing with Serena and Clemont's daughter Clara, while Serena was holding baby Alex in her arms. She turned and saw the two, however, and her face lit up.

"Oh, there you guys are! Iris said you were both around."

"Yeah, we just came from downstairs," Ash replied. "That's where all the kids are playing, if Kady and Clara want to join them!"

"That sounds like fun!" Dawn crowed. "Do you girls want to go play with the other kids?"

Neither one seemed eager to go. Kady and Clara were a bit more on the timid side, and weren't as familiar with everyone else to be comfortable. Ash, of course, didn't want to see the girls be nervous, but he also didn't want them to miss out on anything.

"Aiden, Michelle, and Elizabeth are down there," Ash informed the young girls, whose eyes suddenly widened. "You want to play with them?"

"Yeah!" Kady squealed. She became quite a bit more outgoing when those three were involved, which Ash knew would be the key to getting her excited.

"I'll take them downstairs, since you guys just came from there," Dawn offered. "Come on, girls!"

Dawn gently took the girls' hands and led them towards the stairs. Kenny and Clemont were already talking to one another, so Serena turned back towards Ash with a smile.

"Dawn and I both brought some dessert," she told the Pokémon Master. "We worked together last night to bake all of it, which was so much fun!"

"That's awesome!" Ash crowed. "I can't wait to try everything!"

The Kalos Queen suddenly heard all of the commotion coming from the kitchen, and nervously looked over Ash's shoulder. "Um, does Misty need some help in there?"

Ash too looked over his shoulder and glanced at the kitchen for a moment before chuckling. "Nah, she's got _a_ _lot_ of help in there already. That's probably why you're hearing all of…uh…that."

Serena smirked. "You're worried, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but not about Misty," Ash sighed. "I think I should go check on her assistants."

Ash slinked off towards the kitchen, just poking his head into the doorway. Mallow was busy cooking at the stove, while Cilan was checking on the food in the oven. Misty, meanwhile, was trying to shoo Brock away from a cutting board full of vegetables.

"Everything good in here?" Ash called above the din.

"Yeah, just fine!" Brock assured him, picking up the cutting board and carrying it away from Misty while she was distracted by her husband.

"Hey!" Misty cried.

"I'm helping, and that's final," Brock playfully scolded. "You won't miss out chopping some vegetables, I promise."

Misty groaned and rolled her eyes. "We invited you guys over to have fun and relax, and all you three have been doing is slaving in the kitchen. I feel bad!"

"Oh, don't!" Mallow laughed. "It's not like you forced us. We all _wanted_ to help out!"

"Mallow is right," Cilan agreed. "In fact, cooking happens to be very relaxing for me!"

"Same here!" Mallow chirped.

Misty sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I'll never understand, but fair enough."

"Kenny, Dawn, Clemont, and Serena are all here," Ash informed his wife, who raised her eyebrows in interest. "Dawn just took Kady and Clara downstairs to play with the other kids."

"Good, so almost everyone is here!" Misty cheered, clapping her hands together. "We're only missing…May, Drew, and the kids."

Brock chuckled, not bothering to look up from the vegetables he was cutting. "Leave it to May to be the last one to arrive."

"She does love being fashionably late," Misty laughed.

The doorbell rang, and Ash's eyes widened. "It's like she heard you."

"I'll get it," Misty offered, a smile on her face. "I think I need a break from the kitchen, unlike the other chefs."

Although she strode past Ash, he eagerly followed after her. When Misty opened the door, she grinned as soon as she saw their expected guests standing on the other side of the threshold.

"There you are!" Misty teased.

"It's May's fault," Drew plainly stated.

The brunette shot her husband a glare. "Hey! It wouldn't have taken me so long to get ready if _you_ hadn't hogged the bathroom for over an hour doing your hair!"

Ash chuckled nervously. "She was just messing with you guys. We don't actually care if you're on time or not."

"I am glad I did mess with you, though," Misty quipped. "That little story about Drew was hilarious."

Drew grumbled incoherently. Misty just smirked and tucked some of her hair behind her ear, glancing down at the two children standing between their parents. "It's nice to see you, Damien, Rosie!"

"You too!" They both chirped.

"All your friends are hanging out in the basement," Ash told them, jamming a thumb over his shoulder. "Why don't you go join them?"

"Okay!" Rosie giggled, scurrying into the house.

"Thanks!" Damien added, following after his sister.

When the two got down into the basement, everyone was still in the same groups and doing the same things as before. Damien was quick to join Aiden and the other boys, who were happy to catch him up on what had been going on in their video game.

"Basil and Kahula just had an awesome fight," Aiden explained, emphatically motioning towards the TV. "Kahula used Charizard, and Basil picked Sceptile. We totally thought Kahula had the advantage since he could pull out Charizard's fire type attacks, but Basil got the upper hand with all the punches and kicks."

"This game is so great," Damien chuckled. "Aren't the assist Pokémon so cool?"

"Yeah!" Kokum chimed in. "Kahula drew Cubone and Diglett, and Basil got Emolga and Fennekin. We're still waiting for someone to get the legendary assist Pokémon, though."

"I played this with one of my friends back home, and he managed to get Reshiram and Cresselia," Koa told the younger boys. "There was no way I could beat him after that, but honestly, it was so cool I didn't even care."

While the boys continued to fuss over their video game, Michelle and Sage were still watching videos on Michelle's tablet. They had just finished watching an appeal that Michelle had seen firsthand at one of her contests, and Sage was completely impressed.

"That was amazing!" Sage gushed. "The way those two Espurr worked together to make those illusions was _insane!_ "

"That's exactly why I love being a coordinator," Michelle giggled. "Every contest I've ever been to, I _always_ see something that amazes me."

"I wish contests were more popular in Unova," Sage sighed. "I could watch them every single day and never get tired of it!"

"But it must be really fun when your dad is a gym leader and your mom is the champion!" Michelle stressed. "You can watch really cool battles whenever you want!"

Sage raised an eyebrow. "You mean like you with your mom and your dad?"

"Uh…I guess you have a point," Michelle sheepishly replied, rubbing the back of her neck.

"It's okay," Sage admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "But I don't really think my parents are super cool, you know? I love them, but…they're a little lame. My mom _is_ cooler than my dad, though."

Michelle lolled her head as she thought about it. "I think my mom is _really_ cool. My dad is pretty cool too, even though he sometimes seriously embarrasses me."

Sage smirked and threw a hand down. "At least your dad doesn't go on crazy tangents about trains! He'll do that anywhere and everywhere, it's _cringe worthy._ "

"Yeah, my dad doesn't talk about trains to total strangers," Michelle laughed. "That's pretty rough."

Nearby, the younger girls had stopped practicing dance and gymnastics and were now fawning over Kalili's Oricorio.

"I've never seen a real one before!" Bella squealed, scratching the top of the bird's head as the creature happily cooed.

"It's so cute!" Kady agreed.

Clara just smiled as she gently pet Oricorio between her beady eyes.

"Oricorio is the best partner ever!" Kalili declared. "We love to dance together, and she helps me help out on the ranch and everything! She even comes with me to school!"

"I wish I had a partner Pokémon," Elizabeth sighed. "My mommy and daddy said I can't have one until I become a trainer."

"But you kind of have some Pokémon, right?" Kalili asked.

"I have Wurmpie and Heartley," Elizabeth confirmed with a nod. "I just can't battle with them and stuff like that. But I play with them all the time!"

"I wanna have a Vulpix one day, like my mommy," Bella chimed in, beaming at the older girls.

"Ooh, I want a Piplup!" Kady giggled. "My mommy has one, and my daddy had one too, but now it's an Empoleon."

Clara, however, was still silent. Elizabeth smiled and leaned forward on her palms, smiling at the little girl. "What about you, Clara? What kind of Pokémon do you want?"

The little blonde thought about it for a short moment before squeaking, "Fen-kin!"

"Fennekin?" Elizabeth trilled, Clara nodding in confirmation. "That's such a cute Pokémon!"

"Kids! Dinner!"

All 12 children whipped their heads around, glancing up towards the stairs. Then, before anyone could process it, they all went trampling up like a pack of Tauros. Mallow, who had been the one to call for them, appeared stunned as the large group went racing past her.

"Works every time," Mallow remarked, smirking to herself.

The children all gathered around their table in the kitchen, clamoring for food. The adults, meanwhile, watched from the doorway, partially impressed and partially horrified by the kids' actions.

"They must really be hungry," Lillie breathed.

"Or just really gluttonous," Drew muttered.

Serena gently tilted her head. "You know, I don't think our table is going to look that much better."

"That's true, we are sitting with Ash," Dawn noted.

"And Sophocles," Lana added.

"Kiawe's borderline," Mallow called as she closed the basement door.

Cilan emerged from the kitchen, wiping his hands off an apron that was tied around his waist. Iris took notice and raised an eyebrow.

"Where'd you get that from?" She questioned.

"Oh, it's Misty's," Cilan replied. "She said she never uses it and was more than pleased to offer it to me!"

"And of course you took her up on that," Iris snickered.

"It could be worse," May mused, glancing at the light blue apron embroidered with water type Pokémon. "Brock used to wear a frilly pink apron all the time when he cooked for us. I mean, I thought it was kind of cute, but still."

Misty suddenly appeared before the group, smiling widely at them. "Okay guys, now _our_ share is ready! So if you all want to head into the dining room and take your seats, that'd be great!"

The adults filtered in far more calmly than the children had, and even managed to fill their plates in an orderly fashion. There was only one hiccup when Ash, Sophocles, and Kiawe had slowly started an eating competition, but it was quickly fanned out by Misty and Mallow.

"Guys, this food is amazing!" Kenny gushed.

"Yeah, looks like all that hard work in the kitchen paid off," Clemont agreed.

"I'm just lucky I had some really great chefs to assist me," Misty giggled.

"Hey, any time!" Mallow laughed.

"Plus, I don't think we're going to have any leftovers," Misty continued brightly. "That's a big plus, considering I don't have an industrial sized fridge."

"I'm surprised you don't," Brock snickered.

"Me too," Misty admitted. "Maybe I should invest."

"You should've invested _years_ ago," Drew noted.

"I probably would've been happier that way," Misty snickered. "Less of a cluttered fridge to have to clean out and try to stuff things into all the time."

"Well, I'm just happy we could all get together and hang out!" Ash suddenly piped up. "This has been really fun!"

"We should do big get-togethers like this more often!" Lillie agreed.

"Oh, we could do it in Alola next time!" Mallow suggested, her green eyes bright. "We could have it right in the restaurant!"

"My restaurant in Unova could host it as well," Cilan added.

"Or Lumiose Tower," Clemont offered. "It might not be a restaurant, but it's certainly big enough!"

"I'm up for anything," Misty chirped. "As long as I get to be an assistant in the kitchen next time instead of the head chef."

* * *

 **This was basically one big friend reunion. The more companions they add, the harder it is to write them all in together, especially in such a short story. But I really enjoy all these characters and wish they'd show up together more often!**


	27. We Choose You

**December 7th is, of course, Aiden and Michelle's birthday!**

 **After watching the 20th Pokémon movie, and really falling in love with the first 15 minutes of the movie, it made me think how I would start off my own series if it was based on these stories. I'd pretty easily have to say it would be either in a movie or a big episode, and as a parallel to the very first time we saw Ash.**

 **And since I was already on that train of thought, I also realized it would be perfect for the twins' birthday story!**

 **So, please enjoy what I would consider making the first 15 minutes/half of the first episode of the next era of Pokémon!**

* * *

 **We Choose You**

The battlefield was suddenly illuminated by a powerful burst of electricity.

The sparks almost seemed to be flying out of control, but in reality, the attack was totally precise, and they had one specific target they were aiming for.

" _Dodge it, Nidorina!"_

The poison type Pokémon tried its best to move out of the way, but the thunderbolt was simply too quick. It struck fast and hard, causing the poison pin Pokémon to cry out in pain.

" _What an impressive attack! Of course, none of us here are surprised by the strength of this particular Pokémon. Nidorina and her trainer have been in an uphill battle from the start! Can they find a way to rebound?"_

The dust from the attack slowly began to settle, revealing that Nidorina had suffered serious damage, but was still standing and willing to battle. Its opponent stood across the field on all fours, glowering as more sparks emanated from his cheeks. Behind that Pokémon was his trainer, a handsome man with a playful smirk on his face.

" _Pikachu, use iron tail!"_

The mouse Pokémon jumped into the air and performed a flip as his tail started to glow white.

" _Nidorina, protect!"_

A blue force field of energy quickly surrounded Nidorina, and Pikachu went bouncing right off it. He landed on all four paws and went skidding backwards, snarling at the poison pin Pokémon across from him.

" _Poison sting!"_

" _Electro ball!"_

Nidorina opened her mouth and fired off a round of glowing white spikes, while Pikachu jumped up once again and formed a sphere of electricity at the edge of his tail, flinging it towards Nidorina. Both attacks collided, however, and cancelled one another out.

" _Pikachu, use quick attack and run in a circle around Nidorina!"_

The electric type followed his trainer's order without hesitation. Nidorina, on the other hand, quickly became frustrated when she wasn't able to locate Pikachu and lost track of the battle.

" _Thunderbolt!"_

The powerful attack emerged in a literal flash, engulfing Nidorina in a rush of electricity.

In front of the TV, a young boy and girl were intently watching the battle. The boy was sprawled out on his stomach, his elbows propped up on the floor and his head resting in his hands. The girl, meanwhile, was sitting beside him with her knees pulled into her chest.

" _Nidorina is unable to battle! Pikachu is the winner!"_

Letting out an excited cry that startled the girl next to him, the boy jumped to his feet and pumped his two fists.

"Man, what an awesome battle!"

The girl smirked and shook her head, standing up herself. "You say that _every time._ "

"Yeah, cause it's true," the boy laughed, turning on a heel and scurrying into the kitchen. Playfully rolling her eyes, the girl followed after him, watching as he dramatically jumped around the next room. "Nidorina didn't stand a chance against Pikachu! Did you see that thunderbolt?!"

"I've seen it a million times," the girl snickered, crossing her arms. "So have you."

"I know, but it's literally like the coolest and best attack ever!" He gushed, throwing his arms above his head. "The way it just explodes everywhere, all over the place like crazy! But you always know it's going to hit! Like _bam! Zzzzzt!_ "

"Aiden, were you watching that battle again?"

The boy spun around and beamed at the woman who had just stepped out of the pantry. "Of course I was!"

His mother laughed tiredly, placing a box of oatmeal on the counter. "You've watched it every day since it happened. Don't you think you've seen it enough times already?"

"No way," Aiden refuted, shaking his head so quickly that his unruly black locks whipped around his face. "It's so good! You even said it was a good battle, right?"

"It was," she confirmed, opening up the cabinet and pulling out a silver pot. "But that doesn't mean you need to keep watching it over and over again."

"Even Michelle watched it with me this time," Aiden informed his mother, nodding towards the girl standing behind him.

"It _was_ a pretty good battle," Michelle admitted, tucking her bright red hair behind an ear. "But not enough to watch it as many times as Aiden has. Actually, I don't really think anything is good enough to watch it every single day."

Aiden let out a short laugh, leading Michelle to raise an eyebrow. "That's hilarious, coming from you. You read the same books over and over again!"

"Books are different than TV," Michelle calmly argued.

"Yeah, they're more _boring_ ," Aiden droned.

"Hey!" Michelle cried.

"No fighting in this kitchen!" Their mother warned, whipping around and waving a wooden spoon at the two.

"Can we fight in the living room?" Aiden asked, pointing towards the room he and his sister had just come from.

"Not funny," the woman sighed. "Why don't you sit down at the table and keep yourselves out of trouble?"

Both kids dragged themselves over to the table, taking their seats and silently watching their mother's back until they could no longer keep quiet…which was about a grand total of 10 seconds.

"Hey, I thought of something that we could both hear over and over again and never get sick of it!" Michelle suddenly announced, gaining her brother's interest.

"What's that?" Aiden asked.

"The story about how Mom and Dad met," Michelle replied, batting her eyelashes.

" _That_ old story?" Their mother sighed. "I thought the older you two got, the less you'd like to hear it."

"No way, it's my favorite!" Michelle cried.

"You could probably tell the story yourselves, at this point."

Michelle shrugged her shoulders. "I guess, but that's not as fun!"

"Alright," the woman relented, her lips bending into a sweet smile. "We were both 10 years old. I was fishing in a river. It had been a pretty quiet afternoon, but all of a sudden, something started pulling on my line. I thought it was going to be some kind of really big, maybe even rare, water Pokémon, but it was just a boy who looked like a drowned Rattata."

"And the boy was _so_ grateful to the girl for saving his life that he immediately confessed his love for her and they lived happily ever after!"

Aiden and Michelle both snickered as they glanced over their shoulders towards the doorway. Their mother, on the hand, was not quite as amused.

"That sure is a funny way of saying you stole and trashed my bike," she bit, not bothering to turn around.

"Eh, I think the story is a lot more interesting if we just leave that part out of it and skip right to the love part."

"You always were the master of embellishment, Ash Ketchum."

The famous Pokémon Master grinned almost goofily and ran a hand through his own wild raven mane. "Thanks, Mist."

The yellow mouse who had been riding on the man's shoulder took a flying leap off, landing in Michelle's arms instead so she could scratch him between the ears. "Hey, Pikachu!"

Aiden, meanwhile, whipped around in his chair, gripping the back of it as he faced his father. "Dad, Shelly and I watched your battle again this morning!"

"Ah, the one from last week?" Ash questioned.

"Uh huh!" Aiden confirmed. "I seriously can't get over how you and Pikachu totally blew through that Nidorina like it was nothing!"

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu cheered.

"I don't think the battle was as easy as it looked on TV," Ash calmly argued, earning an incredulous look from his partner Pokémon. "That Nidorina was very well trained!"

He walked over towards Misty in order to get a glass from the cabinet, but she was quick to grab him by his collar and gently pull him down towards her face. "Please, that Nidorina was no match for you and Pikachu."

"Obviously, I just can't let the kids think everything in life is that easy," Ash whispered back.

Misty smirked and gave Ash a quick kiss on the lips. "You're so cute."

"Blegh."

Ash and Misty both raised an eyebrow and looked over their shoulders at Aiden, who was now slouched on the table with a look of disgust on his face.

"So, you guys must be really excited about your birthday tomorrow!" Ash crowed, carrying his newly fetched glass over to the refrigerator.

"Duh!" Aiden laughed. "We're finally turning 10! I feel like we've been waiting-"

"10 years?" Michelle interrupted.

"It's felt like a lot longer than 10," Aiden scoffed, picking his head up.

"Well, I think your father and I can safely say that 10 years has gone by very quickly for us," Misty commented, checking on the oatmeal once again before deeming it ready.

"She's right," Ash confirmed, nodding his head. "It feels like just yesterday you guys were cute little babies!"

"We're still cute," Michelle challenged with a smirk. "Just not little or babies anymore."

"That you are," Ash agreed with a laugh. "Cute, I mean!"

"Yeah, well speaking of little babies, isn't something missing?" Aiden questioned, pointing to the empty chair next to him.

"Hey!"

That squeaky protest was followed up by the appearance of a small girl in the same doorway Ash had just emerged from. She was glaring at her brother, but it wasn't overly scary when paired with her pink pajamas and the stuffed Teddiursa being clutched against her chest.

"Oh, there she is," Aiden chuckled.

"I'm _not_ little and I'm _not_ a baby!" The girl cried, indignantly turning her head away.

"No, you're most certainly not!" Ash decided, pulling his shoulders back as he shook his head. "You're a very big girl, Elizabeth. We all know that!"

The child seemed content with that, and giggled as she skipped over to him. Ash smirked and lifted the girl onto his lap, giving her a hug as she cuddled against him.

"You guys spoil Michelle and Elizabeth way too much," Aiden complained.

"No we don't," Ash refuted, although he had done it in a cutesy, high pitched voice while beaming at Elizabeth. He was too busy trying to entertain her, and it seemed to be working based on her high-pitched laughter.

"See?" Aiden deadpanned, motioning towards the two.

"Don't include _me_ in that," Michelle huffed, annoyed by the very idea that she could be considered spoiled.

"Oh, I am," Aiden retorted. "You both get treated like you're princesses or something."

"Aiden, even if we _do_ sometimes spoil your sisters, you don't get treated any differently," Misty reminded her son, finally placing several bowls of oatmeal on the table. "Dad and I can go overboard on all of you at times."

Ash was not contributing to the conversation because he was still too busy playing with Elizabeth, this time rubbing their noses together. Misty rolled her eyes and gently tugged at his hair, pulling his head back upright. "What're we talking about?"

Misty sighed and shook her head. "Aiden thinks we spoil his sisters too much."

"Nah," Ash refuted. "You guys aren't spoiled! You're all great kids!"

Misty smacked a hand against the side of her face. "That wasn't really the argument here…"

"It's fine, I don't actually care," Aiden assured his parents. "Know why?"

"…no," Misty hesitantly replied.

"Because tomorrow is my birthday, and I'm going to become a Pokémon trainer!" Aiden declared, jumping to his feet and sending his kitchen chair skidding backwards.

"You sure are!" Ash chuckled.

"Just remember, you and Michelle both promised you'd wait to do anything until after your party," Misty reminded her giddy son.

"Right, the party, got it," Aiden muttered, suddenly sounding (and looking) a bit dejected.

"Come on, champ, it'll be fun!" Ash assured the boy. "Your mom has worked really hard on this big party for you and Michelle."

"I know, I just _really_ want my first Pokémon," Aiden groaned.

"You'll get one," Misty promised. "We already made sure with Professor Oak. We won't be having any incidents like your father."

Aiden and Michelle both started to laugh, while Ash narrowed his eyes. "When is that story gonna die?"

"Never," Misty easily replied.

"That's my second favorite story, next to how you and Mom met!" Michelle giggled. "I could hear that one a million times and never get sick of it, too."

Pikachu tittered, apparently agreeing with the girl.

"Shelly, what Pokémon are you gonna get?" Elizabeth asked, sitting up straight on Ash's lap.

Michelle twisted her mouth. "I'm not really sure yet. I haven't always known which Pokémon I wanted to start with like Aiden does."

"Squirtle!" Aiden declared, puffing out his chest.

"I think Charmander and Bulbasaur are both really cute," Michelle continued. "But I'm still not sure which one I'm going to pick."

"Eh, you've still got some time to think about it!" Ash assured his older daughter. "I couldn't decide until the minute I stepped into the lab."

"At which point every single Pokémon was already taken," Misty reminded everyone.

"No, they weren't," Ash calmly retorted. "Pikachu was still there, and he was the best one of them all! Right, buddy?"

"Pi!" Pikachu agreed.

"You're right," Misty relented, smiling at her husband as she reached over to pet the mouse. "He certainly was!"

"I love Pikachu!" Elizabeth giggled.

Pikachu blushed, overwhelmed but also flattered by all of the attention. "Chaaa…"

Once the family had finished their breakfast, the three children scurried off with Pikachu in order to play. Ash and Misty, meanwhile, stayed back in the kitchen to do the dishes. Normally they would've expected the kids to help them out, but they weren't about to deny some alone time…even if it was over chores.

"I know we kind of joked about it before, but it really does freak me out that Aiden and Michelle are turning 10," Misty sighed, handing one of the newly rinsed bowls off to Ash.

"I meant it when I said it feels like just yesterday they were babies," Ash agreed, drying the bowl with a dish towel. "I don't feel old enough to have 10 year olds."

"Me either," Misty agreed, scrunching up her nose. "Does it make us _sound_ old?"

"When I was 10, I thought my mom was old," Ash snickered. "And she was far from it. Actually, she was younger than we are now. So I don't know about anyone else, but the kids probably think we're old."

"No, I _know_ they think that," Misty grumbled. "They make jokes about it all the time."

Ash thought about it for a minute before slowly nodding his head. "Yep, you're right. They do. That's rough."

Misty laughed, washing off another bowl.

"What're we gonna do without them?"

Just as quickly as Ash had made her laugh, he made her stop and grow serious. Misty raised her eyebrows and glanced up at her husband, who was staring at the window. He felt her eyes on him and turned his gaze down, keeping his stoic look.

"Oh, come on, we were being funny five seconds ago," Misty grumbled, giving him the next bowl.

"I know," Ash chuckled sadly. "That's how I cover up when I'm…"

Misty furrowed her brow when he trailed off. "When you're what?"

"Nervous," Ash finally decided before thinking about it some more. "Sad. Scared. Worried. Anything but happy, honestly."

Misty smirked once again. "Don't feel bad. I'm all of those things, too."

"I'm not used to it," Ash admitted, placing the newly dried bowl off to the side with the others. "Can't say I like it, either."

Misty nodded her head understandingly. "Well…we'll still have Lizzie here with us. And our Pokémon. And our jobs. We'll be able to keep plenty busy."

Again, Ash slowly nodded his head. "That's true."

"I'm not worried about staying busy, truthfully," Misty continued, turning off the faucet and pressing her palms against the sides of the sink. "It's worrying _about_ them that I'm…worried about."

Ash looked over his shoulder, towards the doorway where the children and Pikachu had all run through before. "But you worry about them even when they're here."

"No, this is worse," Misty groaned, shaking her head. "I'm still kind of in control here. I'm their mother. But when they're out there, and I'm not…"

Ash frowned and reassuringly placed his hand on Misty's back. "They'll be alright. They're both tough…and smart. I know we're both going to worry, but I think we have to give them more credit."

Misty smirked and stood back up straight, looking over her shoulder just as Ash had before. "All of a sudden we're on the other side of kids becoming Pokémon trainers."

Ash smiled sadly. "It's nowhere _near_ as fun when we became trainers, is it?"

Misty returned Ash's melancholy grin. "Not even close."

* * *

 **Just a fun parallel: the original battle Ash watched (in the anime, not the new movie) was Onix versus Nidorino, so this time it was Nidorina versus Pikachu.**

 **Also, since Ash and Misty are already established as characters, I thought it'd be interesting to take a small peek into the _other_ side of children becoming Pokémon trainers: how it affects their parents.**


	28. Tappy Little Girl

**The last few stories were about Aiden and Michelle, so now it's Elizabeth's turn! And Ash and Misty too, of course. Let's see what they're up to!**

 **Elizabeth: 3 years old**

* * *

 **Tappy Little Girl**

When Misty and Elizabeth returned home from an afternoon out, you couldn't have wiped the smile off Ash's face if you tried.

"There's my girls!" Ash crowed, holding his arms out for Elizabeth as she came charging at him. He caught her and effortlessly lifted her above his head, earning squeaky laughter from the child. "Ah, you still have _lots_ of energy!"

"You're telling me," Misty sighed, leaning against the front door. She too was sporting a grin, however, showing that she wasn't actually _that_ upset about it.

"That's because you're Daddy's little girl," Ash chuckled, lowering Elizabeth so they could lock eyes. "You get all of that energy from me!"

Elizabeth giggled and nodded her head.

"Well, the _good news_ is I think I might have found a way to manage all that energy," Misty informed her husband, peeling herself away from the door.

"Really?" Ash asked, sounding surprised. "What'd you come up with?"

"Dance," Misty replied.

Ash raised an eyebrow. "Uh…Lizzie already takes dance."

"Yeah, she took one class once a week." Misty nodded. "I wanted to make sure she liked it first, and of course it turns out she _loves_ it. So, now that she's a bit older, I think she can handle another class. So we stopped by the studio and signed her up!"

"Whoa, that sounds like fun!" Ash marveled, sitting Elizabeth down on his lap. "You love visiting the dance studio, right?"

"Ya!" Elizabeth giggled.

"They love her too," Misty snickered. "All the teachers and the receptionists think she's such a sweetheart!"

"Of course she is," Ash proudly bragged. "Doesn't surprise me! So, what'd you sign her up for? More of her little ballet?"

"That was one," Misty confirmed. "But now that she's 3, she can actually take another style of dance too. So I figured we'd give that one a go."

Ash blinked. "There's more than just ballet?"

Misty playfully rolled her eyes. "Of course there is. Didn't you pay attention during her recital? Or to our nieces?"

"Yeah, but everything looked the same to me," Ash murmured, scratching his head.

"I shouldn't be surprised," Misty sighed, finally putting her bag down by her feet. Pikachu, who had been hanging out beside Ash, saw the bag go down and made a beeline for it, digging through in search of a treat.

"Guess I'll have to learn the difference now," Ash chuckled. "What's the other style she's gonna learn?"

Misty bit her lip, seeming tentative to answer. Ash tilted his head, not understanding the sudden hesitance of his wife.

"Mist?" Ash prodded.

"Oh, it's tap," Misty replied quickly, kneeling down to open up her bag and retrieve a handful of pokéblock for the grateful electric type.

"Tap?" Ash repeated.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool," Misty continued, though she still sounded unsure. "They wear shoes with metal on the bottom, so when they dance around it makes all kinds of different sounds."

"Oh, that does sound cool!" Ash agreed, his face lighting up. He may not have understood much about dance (or anything, really) but he knew that Elizabeth really liked it, so he wanted to learn more about it for her sake. "Are you excited to learn how to do that, Lizzie?"

"Uh huh," Elizabeth muttered, sounding distracted as she toyed with the colorful rosettes on her light pink shirt.

Ash smirked and gave his young daughter a kiss on the head before placing her on the floor. "You want to play with Pikachu for a bit?"

Elizabeth beamed at her father and rapidly nodded her head. Having heard that proposition, Pikachu wolfed down the last of his pokéblock and scurried over to Elizabeth, circling the child's legs before running off. Elizabeth laughed wildly and followed after the mouse, her parents gleefully watching on. Once they were out of the room, Ash turned his attention back onto Misty, who seemed much more content.

"You got less and less excited about that new class the more I asked about it," Ash commented, causing Misty to furrow her brow. "Why's that?"

"No I didn't," Misty tacitly argued.

"Okay, does 'nervous' sound more like it?" Ash badgered.

Misty huffed and trudged over to her husband, taking a seat beside him on the couch. "I'm really glad Lizzie seems to love dance so much. Aiden has baseball and Michelle has swimming, so if this is going to be Lizzie's thing, I think that's great! And I was excited to sign her up for a new class! It's another big step in her growing up."

Ash tilted his head. "Is that what's bothering you?"

"No, surprisingly," Misty breathed. "It's just…you know, Elizabeth is _so_ energetic, and she loves to practice dancing all the time. But tap shoes are nowhere near as quiet as ballet slippers."

Confusion once again flooded Ash. "Uh…so…you're worried about the noise she's gonna make?"

Misty tilted her head back to stare at the ceiling. "I might have just signed our daughter up for tap class, but I think I signed _us_ up for hell."

Ash smirked at his wife's quip. "I'm sure it won't be that bad. If anything, it'll probably be really cute! I love watching Lizzie twirl all over the house."

"Right, quietly," Misty replied, lowering her head.

"I just don't think a 3 year old can make _that_ much noise with her feet, even if there's metal on the bottom of her shoes," Ash refuted, shaking his head.

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see," Misty decided, slowly turning to glance at her husband. "Just don't say I didn't warn you."

 **XXX**

Afternoons off of work were Ash's favorite. Sure, he loved being at Indigo Plateau, catching up with his friends who worked there and training with his Pokémon. But work also involved a hefty amount of paperwork, which Ash wasn't as thrilled with. Instead, being at home meant he could just relax and not think about work at all.

Currently, he was taking advantage of an afternoon off by lounging on the couch and watching the Starmies game. Pikachu was watching as well, lazing around by his trainer's feet.

Ash's ability to hear the game was soon disrupted, however, by a strange sound that Ash had never heard before. It sounded like someone was dropping something metal on the kitchen floor, over and over again. And it just wasn't stopping.

"What _is_ that?" Ash muttered, sitting up. Pikachu raised his head as well, revealing to Ash his heavily twitching ears. "You have any idea, buddy?"

"Pi," Pikachu refuted, shaking his head.

Ash sighed and slid off the couch, trudging towards the kitchen. Pikachu followed closely behind, just in case his trainer was to find any trouble. Instead, however, they walked in on Elizabeth shuffling across the kitchen floor in a pair of white, patent leather shoes, Lily watching on with an almost pained look.

"Lily?" Ash questioned. The pink haired woman jumped, leading Ash to furrow his brow. "What are you doing in here? I thought you were watching after Elizabeth in the gym while Misty worked."

"I _was_ ," Lily grumbled, still tense from Ash's sudden appearance. "But I can't take any more of this noise! Misty brought Elizabeth back from her tap class, and she hasn't stopped dancing since. It was cute at first, but now…not so much."

Ash turned his attention back onto his young daughter. She was indeed still tap dancing across the kitchen floor, but Ash didn't find the noise annoying at all. In fact, he thought it was downright adorable. He'd just been startled by it before, which could've been avoided if Lily had actually _told him_ she was going to come into the house.

"You might want to try and bribe her to take those shoes off," Lily suggested, bringing Ash back to their conversation.

"Why didn't _you_ try that?" Ash deadpanned.

"Because I can't think with all that noise!" Lily cried.

"You? Thinking?" Ash nearly gasped, unable to stop the taunting smile from forming on his face.

Lily narrowed her eyes at the Pokémon Master. "That joke wasn't funny the first time you told it, and it hasn't been funny the million times after."

"It's not that bad," Ash sighed. "The joke _and_ the noise."

Lily stared at Ash in disbelief before letting out a loud, albeit dry, laugh. Elizabeth finally stopped in her tracks, solely to give her aunt an odd look, before resuming her tapping.

"What?" Ash pressed.

"Try listening to it for longer than five minutes and then come talk to me," Lily retorted, waving a hand at Ash before heading for the back door; the same door she'd apparently entered through before.

"So you're just going to leave Lizzie here with me?" Ash called.

"Yeah," Lily scoffed. "You gave birth to her, right?"

"No, Misty did," Ash grumbled. "And what _about_ Misty? Does she know you brought Lizzie back here?"

"No, she's in a battle right now," Lily replied.

"Lily!" Ash gasped.

"Don't worry, I'll tell her once she's done." Lily rolled her eyes as she slid open the door. "Misty won't care as long as Lizzie's with you."

Ash was about to fire something else off at his sister-in-law, but she closed the door behind her before he could keep arguing. He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose before quickly glancing back towards his daughter. She was still dancing around the kitchen, completely unaffected by her aunt's sudden exit.

"Lizzie!" Ash beckoned. The little girl spun back around, the sweetest smile playing on her lips. Ash smirked and knelt down, which almost instantly got Elizabeth to playfully stomp towards him, her tap shoes making disharmonious noise along the way. "Did you have fun in tap class today?"

"Ya!" Elizabeth squeaked. "I'm p-acticing!"

"Yeah, practice is always good," Ash agreed, nodding his head. "You were practicing in the gym too, huh?"

Elizabeth nodded her head. "Aunt Lily was –nnoyed. It was funny!"

Ash, although he knew he shouldn't, chuckled. "Yeah, your aunt did seem kind of bugged. It's just because she doesn't understand hard work!"

"Ya," Elizabeth murmured. Ash's smirk widened.

"Well, I don't mind if you practice your tap dancing!" Ash assured her. "You can dance around in here, and I'll just be in the next room watching TV. If you need me, you can come get me, okay?"

"Kay!" Elizabeth chirped, her eyes sparkling. Ash laughed and gave his young daughter a quick kiss on the forehead before standing up and heading back into the living room as Elizabeth continued to tap away in the kitchen. Pikachu didn't immediately follow behind Ash, instead staying back to observe Elizabeth. Ash soon noticed his partner wasn't following him, and looked over his shoulder at the mouse. "What's up, Pikachu?"

"Pi pika pikachu Pikapichu," Pikachu chattered.

"You want to stay here and watch Elizabeth?" Ash parroted, albeit in English. Pikachu nodded his head. "Alright! Keep her out of trouble!"

Pikachu tittered at Ash's playful wink before turning his full attention back onto Elizabeth. Ash, meanwhile, continued his trek to the next room in order to continue watching the baseball game.

Time seemed to pass quite quickly before Misty opened the front door. The minute she heard the sound of Elizabeth's tap shoes pounding against the floor, she groaned and threw her head back.

"Oh good, she's still going," Misty quipped sarcastically.

"I think she sounds pretty good for a kid with one lesson under her belt," Ash offhandedly replied before sitting up and smiling at his wife. "Hi."

Misty, despite her aggravation, returned his smile. "Hi."

Ash reached out and gently tugged on her arm, leading her towards the couch and kissing her cheek once she was sitting beside him. "Lily told me you were in a battle when she barged in on my afternoon off. How'd it go?"

Misty smirked at his not-so-subtle dig at her sister. "Not so hot. I lost."

Ash's lips bent into a frown. "Aw, I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's part of the job." Misty brushed off his sympathy with a wave of her hand. "Besides, the kid was very sweet. It didn't pain me to reward him with a badge."

"That's good at least," Ash chuckled.

Misty hummed before glancing over her shoulder towards the kitchen. "Has Elizabeth stopped at all since Lily brought her back here?"

"I don't think so," Ash replied. "Truthfully, I've mostly been paying attention to the baseball game, and Elizabeth hasn't come in here to get me. But I've liked what I _have_ heard!"

Misty furrowed her brow. "Seriously?"

"Mmhm." Ash nodded his head. "It's kind of like music!"

"What kind of music do you listen to?" Misty laughed dryly.

Ash shrugged. "Normal music. Was Elizabeth's tapping really bugging you as much as it was bugging Lily?"

"I don't think _as much_ as Lily," Misty relented. "But Elizabeth _is_ my daughter and I do have a good amount of patience when it comes to my children. That tapping is just…incessant."

Ash tapped his chin in thought. "What if we bought you some ear plugs? Think that might help?"

"Probably not," Misty muttered. "I'd feel too bad anyway. I don't want to make it seem like I don't _want_ Elizabeth practicing or that I don't want to hear her. I just want to hear her a little less."

As if on cue, Elizabeth's tapping from the next room ceased. Misty turned her head in interest, while Ash looked around her.

"Maybe she heard you," Ash murmured.

"I hope not," Misty sighed, getting to her feet.

Ash followed suit, and the two made their way into the kitchen. Elizabeth was sitting on the floor, trying to pull the tap shoe off of her right foot. Pikachu was already situated at the left, tugging at the neatly tied bow with his sharp, white teeth.

"Do you two need some help?" Misty giggled, approaching the preschooler and Pokémon.

"They'we stuck, Mommy," Elizabeth noted, glancing up at her mother.

"Oh, well that's no good!" Misty playfully gasped. "We'll just have to get them un-stuck!"

As Misty knelt down to help remove Elizabeth's tap shoes, Ash looked towards his daughter and smiled. "All done practicing for today, pumpkin?"

Elizabeth eagerly nodded her head. "I'm tiwed!"

"That makes sense, you've been working very hard all day," Ash concurred.

"I did," Elizabeth murmured quite seriously, earning a chuckle from her father.

"You can refuel with dinner!" Ash crowed. "It shouldn't be too much longer until Aiden and Michelle come home from their practices. Then we can all eat!"

"After I cook we can," Misty reminded her husband with a teasing smirk.

"Yeah, I knew that," Ash assured her. "I was just skipping to the eating part, because we all know that's the _best_ part!"

Misty giggled as she finished removing Elizabeth's right shoe. Pikachu had actually managed to untie and take off the left, which he was now proudly presenting to a thankful Misty.

"I wanna watch TV!" Elizabeth declared, leaning back on her hands.

"Okay, you can watch TV for a bit," Misty stated, standing back up. "But put your tap shoes back in your dance bag first, okay?"

Elizabeth nodded as she jumped up on her sock-covered feet. Misty handed over the shiny white shoes and watched in amusement as Elizabeth scurried out of the room, holding the shoes against her chest while Pikachu followed closely behind.

"She's such a good girl," Ash chuckled, folding his arms.

"Yeah," Misty agreed, her smile widening, "she really…"

Misty trailed off, much to Ash's bewilderment. "You okay?"

"My floor is all messed up!"

Ash raised an eyebrow and glanced down towards his feet. The light wood floor of the kitchen was now marred by multiple black marks, almost as if someone had taken a marker to them. Ash knelt down and rubbed at one of the marks with a finger, lifting it back up to examine its tip.

"It's just some scuffs," Ash informed his wife, turning his eyes up to her. "We can probably get these out no problem."

"But they're _everywhere!_ " Misty cried. "They must've come from Elizabeth's tap shoes."

Ash stood back up, a perplexed look on his face. "I didn't know shoes could make that kind of mess."

"Tap shoes can because she was shuffling around in them," Misty sighed, rubbing her temple. "Guess we'll have to try and tackle cleaning that up after dinner."

"I'll take care of it while you make dinner," Ash offered lightly.

"Really?" Misty breathed.

Ash smiled as he shrugged his shoulders. "Sure! It shouldn't be too hard! I had to clean up all the marks I used to leave on my mom's floor as a kid. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve."

Misty's flustered look transformed into one of relief. "Thanks, Ash! That would be so helpful."

"No prob!" Ash assured her.

"And we should probably find another place for Lizzie to practice," Misty thought aloud, inclining her head. "I don't want to keep having to clean off this floor over and over again."

Ash thought about it for a moment before widening his eyes. "You know, I think I might have an idea."

"Really?" Misty gasped.

Ash frowned at her tone. "Why do you sound so surprised?"

"Because you seem to be running on all cylinders today," Misty admitted. "I _am_ surprised."

Ash sighed as he folded his arms. "Do you want to hear my idea or not?"

"Hey, I never said it was a _bad_ kind of surprised," Misty calmly chastised. "Besides, you know all that tapping has been driving me nuts. So yes. I would _love_ to hear your idea."

 **XXX**

"So, I heard a certain little girl has been hard at work practicing her dancing!"

Elizabeth beamed at Professor Oak and quickly nodded her head. The professor, who had knelt down to be at eye level with the child, chuckled at her exuberant response.

"Well, that's a good thing!" Professor Oak assured her. "That's how we become the very best in whatever it is that we love."

"I wanna be the vewy best!" Elizabeth cried.

"Then you just have to keep practicing!" Professor Oak crowed. "In fact, I might just have something that'll help you out when you practice…"

Elizabeth's smile actually managed to widen at such a prospect. Professor Oak gave her a little wave of his hand, inviting her to follow him. She did just that, Ash and Misty watching on nearby.

"I still don't understand how Professor Oak is supposed to help us with this," Misty sighed, folding her arms across her chest.

"I told you, you'll see," Ash chuckled. "I think you're going to like it!"

Professor Oak, meanwhile, had led Elizabeth over to a nicely sized shed. Several grass type Pokémon were mulling around the structure, including Ash's Bulbasaur. The seed Pokémon lit up as soon as he saw the preschooler and immediately bolted towards her.

"Bulby!" Elizabeth giggled delightfully. She knelt down to give the grass type a hug, which the starter seemed to really appreciate.

While the little girl and Pokémon played together, Professor Oak opened up the lock on the shed, enabling him to pull open the doors. He stepped inside and disappeared for a decent amount of time, further bewildering Misty.

"What's in the shed?" Misty asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ash sighed, partly out of exasperation and partly out of amusement. "You're becoming more impatient than me!"

"I am not!" Misty gasped, horrified by the thought. "I just still don't get it!"

The professor suddenly re-emerged, Misty excitedly smacking her husband's shoulder. "He's coming back out!"

"Yeah, I see that," Ash replied, a grimace on his face as his flesh began to sting beneath the material of his shirt. "You do remember I know what he's up to, right? I mean, I'm the one who asked."

Misty didn't respond, instead keeping her gaze locked on Professor Oak. She soon realized he was pulling a large piece of wood out of the shed, dragging it out before dropping it onto the grass and gaining Elizabeth and Bulbasaur's attention.

"Wood?" Misty questioned. "What's that for?"

Ash threw his head back. "You'll see in a second!"

Elizabeth, meanwhile, was highly confused by the sudden appearance of the wood. Pointing a little finger at it, she squeaked, "What's dat fow?"

Misty's face lit up when she heard that. "Aw, Lizzie asked the _exact_ same question I did! My little mini me."

Ash snickered at the notion. "You don't know the half of it."

"This is to help you practice your tap dancing!" Professor Oak crowed.

Elizabeth tilted her head. "How?"

"Oh, well…it's like a little stage!" Professor Oak continued, thinking quickly on his feet. "You can bring it anywhere you want and dance on it! Even outside!"

The little girl seemed intrigued by such an idea. "I could dance ou-sside!"

"You could," Professor Oak agreed. "Would you like to try it out now?"

Elizabeth quickly nodded her head, but stopped as realization set in. "I don't gots my shoes!"

"Here you go, pumpkin!"

Elizabeth looked up, watching as her father approached her with the ever-familiar white tap shoes in hand.

"My shoes!" Elizabeth gasped.

Ash chuckled as he bent over to swap his daughter's sneakers out for the tap shoes. Giggling excitedly, Elizabeth hopped up to her feet and jumped onto the wooden board, shuffling around and creating a disjointed melody with the metal on the bottom of her shoes.

"My, listen to that pretty sound!" Professor Oak remarked.

"Isn't she so talented?" Ash boasted.

"Yes, of course!" Professor Oak concurred. "Reminds me of the movies I used to love to watch as a child."

Misty had soon re-joined the men, watching her daughter tap away on the wood with raised eyebrows. "I didn't see _that_ coming…"

"Wasn't it a good idea?" Ash asked.

"It was," Misty admitted.

"Now we can have Elizabeth practice inside without messing up the floors, or outside when you get sick of the noise," Ash elucidated. "And I can always keep an eye on her then, because I _love_ the sound!"

"You would," Misty teased. "By the way, professor, why do you have all that scrap wood in the first place? I'm surprised Ash knew right away you'd have some."

"Oh, it's just leftovers from projects around the ranch," Professor Oak explained. "I always have extra wood and tools on hand! Ash and Gary always used to raid my shed for wood to use to go mountain boarding."

"Right, that stupid activity," Misty grumbled.

"Look, now you can be _glad_ Professor Oak has all that extra wood lying around!" Ash stressed. "It's not so bad when our son isn't using it to slide down a hill, right?"

"No," Misty begrudgingly admitted before sharply adding, "I'm all for using it so long as she doesn't go flying off it and break an arm like our son."

Ash blushed at the memory. "I don't think that'll happen on a flat surface."

"Better not," Misty grumbled, causing Ash's blush to deepen.

As Elizabeth continued to tap on the wooden board, Bulbasaur watched on inquisitively, eventually rising to his feet and taking a few timid strides towards the plank. He climbed on, observing Elizabeth for a few moments before taking his own little hop. The slight movement of the wood caught Elizabeth's attention, causing her to spin around on her toes. When she saw it was Bulbasaur who had caused it, she giggled warmly.

"You wanna dance, Bulby?" Elizabeth squeaked.

Bulbasaur's red eyes lit up as he nodded excitedly. Elizabeth giggled again and began to shuffle after the grass type, who in turn copied her movements in order to keep her chasing after him.

"Aw, look at that," Misty noted, a gentle smile returning to her face. "Seems like Bulbasaur likes tap dancing too!"

"Now Lizzie's got a practice buddy!" Ash chuckled.

"Not surprising," Professor Oak noted. "Bulbasaur is always looking to get involved! Plus, he just adores Elizabeth. Please, feel free to bring her over to practice whenever you'd like! Both Bulbasaur and I would love it."

"That'd be nice," Misty sighed. "Those two playing together _and_ the peace and quiet!"

* * *

 **I was the same way as Elizabeth as a kid, so I thought this'd be a fun write, particularly with the differences between Ash and Misty's reactions.**


	29. Mistletoe

**Merry Christmas Eve! Or Christmas Day, depending on where you're reading this from!**

 **I was really excited about this particular story, so I decided to upload it on Christmas Eve instead of the actual day. I hope you all enjoy this little holiday gift from me to all of you!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 7 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 16 months old**

* * *

 **Mistletoe**

"We need red lights, and blue lights, and green lights, and-"

"Shouldn't we just get rainbow lights, then?"

"Oh yeah! That's a good idea!"

Michelle furrowed her brow as she glanced over at the mountain of boxes next to her brother. There had to be at least 10 of them piled up. "Did you take all of those?"

"Yeah, I think they're good," Aiden confirmed, nodding his head.

"Guys, look what I…whoa, that's a lot of lights, champ."

Aiden spun around and beamed at his father. "Our house is gonna look so cool, Dad!"

"It definitely is, but that might be a few too many," Ash chuckled, nodding towards the boxes. Pikachu, who was perched on his shoulder, simply tilted his head. "We do still have some at home, after all."

"But they're not cool like these!" Aiden cried.

"Why are these so cool?" Michelle asked, pointing at Aiden's collection.

"Cause they have a picture of them on the bushes," Aiden explained, motioning towards the photo for emphasis.

Pikachu tittered at the explanation; he thought it was cute. Michelle raised an eyebrow and glanced up at her father, silently pleading for him to tell Aiden that was a stupid reason. Ash, however, was not about to do that, and simply offered his son a polite smile.

"We'll look through them in a minute and decide which ones we want to take home with us," Ash decided. "But I wanted to show you guys something first!"

"What?" Michelle squeaked, tilting her head.

"Is it more lights?" Aiden asked excitedly.

"No," Ash chuckled, holding his hand out. In his possession was a spring of bright green leaves, dotted with red berries and adorned on the stem by a red bow.

"It's a plant," Aiden dully noted.

"Not _just_ a plant," Ash replied, chuckling as Pikachu reached out from his shoulder to bat at it. "Mistletoe!"

"Mistletoe?" Michelle repeated, sounding confused.

"Does it blow up?" Aiden questioned.

"It does not," Ash refuted, smirking. "You hang it up, and whichever two people stand underneath it have to kiss!"

Aiden twisted his face at the explanation. "That's gross."

"No, it's cute!" Ash laughed. "I think I'm going to buy this and bring it home with us."

"Why?" Aiden grumbled.

"Because Mom likes it," Ash explained. "Besides, it'll be a nice decoration for _inside_ the house! We can't only focus on the outside, after all."

Aiden pouted. "But the outside is the best part."

Michelle, on the other hand, beamed at her father. " _I_ think the mistletoe is cute, Daddy!"

Aiden scowled as he glanced over at his twin. "Suck up."

"Aiden, that's not nice," Ash scolded. "If you don't behave, I won't buy _any_ lights."

The young boy instantly perked up, trying to present a happy façade. "Okay, I'll be nice! I like this one, Dad!"

Ash sighed and smirked as his son patted one of the boxes. "Alright, we'll bring that one home too."

 **XXX**

Misty giggled as she watched Elizabeth turn the page of the book that was sitting between them. Pointing at the paper, Misty asked her little daughter, "What's that? Do you know?"

Elizabeth mimicked her mother and pointed at the picture as well. "Twee!"

"That _is_ a tree!" Misty crowed. "But it's a special tree, right? That's a _Christmas_ tree!"

Elizabeth looked over her shoulder and pointed towards the corner of the room. "Twee!"

"Yeah, that's _our_ Christmas tree!" Misty cooed. "It looks like a regular tree now, but Daddy, Aiden, and Michelle are going to come back with all kinds of pretty things we can decorate it with. Then it'll really be a Christmas tree!"

Vaporeon suddenly slunk beneath the pine, whacking at the low hanging branches with one of her paws. Elizabeth began to laugh wildly, highly entertained by the Pokémon. Misty, on the other hand, sighed and got to her feet.

"Vaporeon, what have I said about playing around with the tree?" Misty questioned, folding her arms.

"Vay," Vaporeon purred, emerging from under the tree.

"Thank you," Misty trilled, grinning at her partner.

Suddenly, the jiggling of a lock sounded, and the front door opened, the rest of the family having returned from the store.

"You guys were gone for a while," Misty remarked. "Did you find everything okay?"

"Yeah, maybe a little too well," Ash chuckled. Pikachu jumped off his shoulder and headed straight for Elizabeth's lap, causing the little girl to squeal and hug the mouse.

"We got lots of cool lights, Mom!" Aiden exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air.

"You did?" Misty giggled.

"Yeah, they're awesome," Aiden replied.

"I like the twinkly rainbow ones the best!" Michelle chimed in.

"Hmm, it does sound like the shopping went a bit too well," Misty commented, glancing up at her husband. "Just how many lights did you buy?"

"Not _that_ many," Ash calmly argued. "Like…six boxes."

Misty smirked and shook her head. "Great, so six new boxes to go along with all the boxes we already have?"

"It's not like we had tons of lights before," Ash refuted.

"We had a fair amount," Misty scoffed.

"It's okay, Mom, cause we're gonna have the best house in the whole city!" Aiden cheered.

"Yeah, the brightest and the prettiest!" Michelle agreed.

"Oh, good, we're going to be _those_ people," Misty sighed, though she was smiling.

"Hey, those are the best kind of people!" Ash crowed. "They get so into the holidays, it's awesome! I always wanted to decorate our house like that growing up, but we couldn't afford to buy that many lights."

"You don't have to make your house visible from space to show how much you love Christmas," Misty reasoned with her husband.

"Nah, I know that," Ash agreed. "It's also about the food, and the presents, and-"

"Your family?" Misty interrupted, raising an eyebrow.

"I was getting there," Ash whined. "You cut me off before I could!"

Misty giggled and tilted her head. "Right."

"Oh, Daddy, show Mommy what else we bought!" Michelle cried, tugging at her father's pants.

Misty blinked. "I thought you were only going to get lights."

"That was the plan, but I found something else that I thought would be nice," Ash explained, turning around and kneeling to dig in one of the plastic bags he'd brought inside. He pulled out the mistletoe, catching Misty's interest. It caught Elizabeth's as well, who ambled to her feet and began toddling towards her father.

"Mistletoe?" Misty snickered.

"I thought it was cute," Ash chuckled, taking another close look at the plant.

"It's gross," Aiden complained, sticking his tongue out.

"Well, I happen to like mistletoe!" Misty laughed. "I'm not surprised Daddy does too, even though it took him years to get there."

Aiden and Michelle curiously glanced up at their father, who sheepishly began to rub the back of his neck.

"Daddy, what does Mommy mean?" Michelle asked, tilting her head.

"Uh…"

"When Daddy and I were younger, I used to get him under the mistletoe to try and kiss him," Misty explained, smirking at a flustered Ash. "But he always freaked out and ran off!"

Aiden and Michelle both began to laugh wildly, causing Ash to blush. "Come on, I was just a kid! That's hardly fair."

"So you thought it was gross too!" Aiden cried.

"I did not!" Ash argued, although his blush had intensified. "It just made me nervous, that's all."

Elizabeth, who was too young to laugh at her father's expense like her older siblings, simply attached herself to his leg and rubbed her cheek against his shin. Glancing down, Ash showed off a relieved smile, scooping up the toddler with one arm.

"Hey there, pumpkin," he cooed. "You wanna see the mistletoe?"

He held the spring out towards Elizabeth, whose eyes widened out of curiosity. Like most children her age, Elizabeth was very inquisitive and loved to examine things she was not familiar with. She reached out and gently touched one of the leaves, giggling when she felt how soft it was.

Chuckling, Ash slowly pulled the mistletoe away from his daughter and instead held it above both of their heads. Elizabeth squeaked and tilted her head back to stare at it, watching as the plant gently swayed.

"Now _we_ have to give each other a kiss!" Ash laughed. Elizabeth, however, just looked confused. With a small smile, Ash pressed a delicate kiss against his daughter's forehead, causing her to shriek with delight.

"Dada!" Elizabeth babbled, reaching up to hold onto his cheeks.

"Where's my kiss?" Ash asked the toddler. "Do I get one too?"

Elizabeth smirked and shook her head.

"No?" Ash gasped. Elizabeth shook her head again.

"Just like Daddy when he was little!" Michelle giggled. Aiden looked at her before joining in, leading their father to furrow his brow.

"Alright, that's enough of _that_ for one day," Ash tiredly decided, putting the mistletoe to the side.

"Good, because I have to put Lizzie down for her nap," Misty breathed, gently taking the little girl from Ash's grasp.

"But I thought we were gonna do the decorations!" Aiden whined.

"Sweetheart, relax," Misty sighed, her eyes travelling towards Elizabeth as the toddler put her head down on her mother's shoulder. "We can do a little bit once Elizabeth is asleep. I just don't want us to do something like the tree. Lizzie should be there for that."

"What about the lights?" Aiden asked.

"We can do those," Misty assured him. "That's something Lizzie is too small to help with anyway. But I also need you and Michelle to try on your Christmas outfits for me."

Aiden pulled a face at that request. "I hate dressing up for Christmas."

"I know you do," Misty scoffed.

"So how come I hafta?" Aiden groaned.

"Because it's a nice holiday, so you should look nice," Misty replied. "Besides, everyone else in the family dresses up!"

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Then I should be different!"

Misty smirked. "You're very cute, buddy."

The boy's face lit up. "So I don't hafta dress up?"

"No, you still have to."

Aiden sulked as his mother turned towards the stairs. Michelle laughed at her brother's misfortune, causing him to scowl at her.

"You shouldn't laugh," Aiden smartly reminded his twin. "That means you've gotta wear some kinda girly dress."

Michelle quickly stopped giggling, knowing her brother was right. Ash smiled at the two and knelt down to their level.

"Why don't you two head upstairs so you can try on those outfits and get it over with?" Ash suggested. "I promise I won't do any decorating without you!"

"Fine," Aiden grumbled, stomping towards the stairs. Michelle, however, wasn't as quick to move, and stared at her father as she batted her eyelashes.

"What's up, Shelly?" Ash asked. "Aren't you going to go with Aiden?"

"Yeah," Michelle replied slowly. "But Daddy, I have a question."

"Yes, princess?"

Michelle pointed at the mistletoe. "Who made up that whole story about having to kiss people under that thing?"

Ash blinked. "Um…I'm not sure."

"So that means you don't really have to do it, right?"

"Well, no, you don't _have_ to do anything. It's just like a tradition."

"Could we do something else?"

Ash seemed perplexed. "Why do you want to do something else?"

"I don't know," Michelle admitted. "Just cause maybe it'd be fun! I like making up stories. So I can make one up just like whoever made up all that kissy stuff!"

"We'll see," Ash finally relented, smirking at his daughter. "Go try on your outfit, kay?"

"Okay," Michelle squeaked, turning on a heel and running off.

As she ascended the steps, Ash finally put his attention back on the mistletoe. He grew wide eyed, however, when he saw that Vaporeon had jumped on the top of the couch and was slowly inching towards the plant.

"Vaporeon, what are you doing?" Ash asked slowly.

Pikachu noticed this as well and hopped up onto the couch cushion, watching the water type with careful eyes. Vaporeon glanced between the two before continuing her graceful stride towards the mistletoe. Before Ash or Pikachu could process it, Vaporeon had batted it off the couch and jumped down after it, continuing to swat it around the floor.

"Pi-kachu!" Pikachu cried, leaping off the couch and following after the bubble jet Pokémon.

"Vaporeon!" Ash groaned, diving after the water type. She mewled and jumped out of the way, sending Ash face first into the floor.

Pikachu, meanwhile, jumped over his fallen trainer to try and get to Vaporeon. The water type ended up swishing her tail to the side and accidentally smacking the mouse with it, however, sending him back against Ash's head as he picked it up.

Vaporeon, who was completely oblivious to all of the carnage she'd inadvertently caused, rolled over on her back and began tossing the mistletoe in the air using her front paws.

Ash and Pikachu both looked up, grimacing at Misty's precious partner. Vaporeon was a very sweet and loving Pokémon, and an incredibly loyal companion. Unfortunately, her playful side tended to overtake her rather easily, and the bubble jet Pokémon could create an awful lot of trouble and mess without meaning to. That made it pretty easy to get frustrated, but not enough to take it out on the water type.

"We have to get that mistletoe back," Ash declared.

"Pi-ka," Pikachu agreed.

Getting up on his hands and knees, Ash crawled over to Vaporeon, who was still busy playing with the holiday plant. "Hey, Vaporeon, would it be alright if I took that from you? It's part of our Christmas decorations, and I need to hang it up! I'd be happy to give you something else to play with instead!"

Vaporeon halted her paws and turned her head, though she continued to lie on her back with the mistletoe resting in her palms. "Vay?"

"So I can have it?" Ash asked, pointing at the mistletoe before reaching out for it. "That'd be-"

The water type hissed and threw the plant once again, getting up to her feet and smacking it with her tail once it got close enough to her again.

"Great," Ash grumbled as the bubble jet Pokémon scurried off.

Pikachu ambled over to his trainer and hopped up onto the man's shoulder, dropping his ears. "Pikapi, pikachu."

"Yeah, I know," Ash sighed, shaking his head. "It was worth a shot, though."

"What's Vaporeon got?"

Ash looked over his shoulder just in time to see Michelle hopping down the stairs, sporting a navy blue dress printed with red roses and green leaves and sporting a red rosette at the green lined waist. The little girl didn't give her father time to respond, however, before asking a follow up question: "is that the mistletoe?"

"Hey, I like that _way_ better than kissing!"

Aiden was laughing wildly as he pulled up beside his sister, wearing a red sweater with plaid shoulder patches and dark gray dress pants.

"Guys, come on, it's not funny!" Ash whined. "I need help getting it back!"

"Why don't you just ask?" Michelle suggested.

"I already tried that," Ash begrudgingly admitted.

Michelle thought about it for a moment before her face lit up. "I know! Let's make _this_ our tradition with the mistletoe!"

"What, have Vaporeon destroy it?!" Ash cried.

Michelle grinned and nodded her head.

"Yeah, I like that!" Aiden continued laughing.

Misty came slowly down the stairs, silently watching as Vaporeon continued to run around with the mistletoe as the twins giggled and Ash and Pikachu both fretted. Once she reached the bottom, the gym leader shook her head and approached her Pokémon, kneeling down and gently plucking the spring from the water type's mouth. Vaporeon mewled sadly, but stopped as soon as Misty pet her head.

"This isn't a toy, Vaporeon," Misty gently informed her partner. "You can always play with something else!"

As she stood back up, Aiden groaned. "Aw, why'd you stop her?"

"Because the mistletoe isn't a toy, just like I told her," Misty replied. "I know you guys think it's a little silly, but Daddy and I really like it."

"I don't think it's silly, Mommy," Michelle refuted. "I just wanted to make up something that's just for our family!"

"Which was very sweet," Misty assured her. "But our family has lots of traditions that are special just to us! The mistletoe may be something that a lot of families do, but it can still be very special."

Turning towards Ash, Misty held the mistletoe out towards him. "Why don't you hang this up so it's out of Vaporeon's reach?"

Ash blinked, but took the plant out of her hand and got to his feet, walking towards the doorway between the living room and the foyer. "What do you think? Right here?"

Misty hummed and glanced down at the twins. "Do you guys like that spot?"

Michelle's eyes shimmered as she rapidly nodded her head. "Yeah! It's perfect!"

Aiden, on the other hand, was nowhere near as excited, though he was willing to give his input. "That's fine."

With the placement decided, Ash tied the mistletoe's bright red ribbon around a small, barely visible hook in the very top of the doorway. Once he was done, he took a step back and placed his hands on his hips, examining his work.

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu squeaked.

Ash chuckled and rubbed under his partner's chin. "Yeah, I think it looks good too!"

Misty beamed at the man and his Pokémon, and then down at her children. "You two are such a big help! Thank you!"

"Of course!" Michelle chirped, leading Misty to giggle.

"Now, why don't we get you out of those nice clothes so we can _really_ start decorating?" Misty suggested.

They both cheered loudly, causing Vaporeon to pick her head up from the spot on the floor where she'd now busied herself with one of Elizabeth's stray toys.

"Go upstairs quietly," Misty instructed. "I don't want you to wake up your little sister. I'll be there in just a minute."

Aiden and Michelle nodded before clamoring up the stairs. Once they were out of sight, Misty strode towards Ash, who had turned towards her with an innocent look plastered on his face. Sensing the woman was on a mission, Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and made his way over to Vaporeon to get out of the way. Smirking, Misty reached out and gently pushed Ash until they were both standing in the nearest doorway. Ash waited for her to do something, and was surprised when all she did was tilt her head back. He did the same, and chuckled when he realized she was staring at the mistletoe.

"So…you like it?" Ash asked, smiling slyly at his wife.

Without a word, Misty grabbed the material of his shirt and yanked him forward, catching his lips in her own. Ash smiled against the kiss, reaching up to gently touch her face. Once Misty pulled away, she smiled softly at him and rested her forehead against his.

"No. I _love_ it. And I love you."

Ash laughed and closed his eyes. "I love you, too."

* * *

 **I always think about Under the Mistletoe when it comes to Ash and Misty. I think that would be something like a little joke between them, but something that also has a lot of meaning.**

 **Merry Christmas to all of you! Hope you have a fun and happy holiday!**


	30. Hot Chocolate

**Happy New Year's Eve! I don't have a special New Year's one shot for you guys, but I do have a wintry one, and it's been freezing here lately, so I figured this one would be a good way to end 2017!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 3 years old**

* * *

 **Hot Chocolate**

The twins' eyes sparkled as their grandmother walked over to them with a colorful mug in both hands.

"We have to let them sit for a little while, okay?" Delia sweetly instructed the two. "They're very hot!"

"Hot?" Aiden repeated, tilted his head.

"Yes," Delia confirmed. "See the steam coming from them?"

She pointed towards the top of one of the mugs, where visible vapor was rising into the air. Aiden and Michelle both leaned in to get a better look at the fog before nodding their heads.

"That's why they call it hot chocolate," Misty added, smiling at her mother-in-law as she placed another mug in front of her. "It wouldn't be nearly as good if it were warm or cold!"

"But you can't dwink it hot," Michelle complained.

"That's true," Misty mused. "But only when it's _too_ hot! Like right now. It's okay to drink it once it's less hot."

Michelle furrowed her brow and grabbed her head. "Dat's ca-foosing!"

"Confusing?" Misty giggled. "Maybe just a little."

"I can't wait to see them drink hot chocolate for the first time," Delia commented, carrying her own mug over to the table. "I bet they're going to love it!"

"Anything with sugar is good by them," Misty snickered. "I'm fully expecting them to drink the whole thing and be absolutely wired for the next few hours."

"The joys of having children," Delia giggled, pulling out a chair and taking a seat at the table.

"I don't mind sugaring them up and siccing them on their father," Misty quipped, her eyes twinkling with mischievousness. "Ash needs to spend some good one-on-one time with them after an entire day at Indigo Plateau. Wait…is it one-on-one or one-on-two?"

"I believe one-on-two," Delia helpfully replied.

"Guess it doesn't matter," Misty sighed, shrugging her shoulders. "Half the time it feels more like one-on-a hundred. Two-on-fifty if Ash and I work together."

Delia giggled, but abruptly stopped when she realized her grandson was reaching out towards one of the mugs. "Aiden, sweetie, not yet! They're still too hot!"

The boy pouted in response. "Grammy, I wan- it."

"I know, baby, but I don't want you to burn yourself," Delia reasoned with the antsy preschooler. "There might be a way we can cool it down quicker, though! Do you want to try?"

Aiden rapidly nodded his head. Twittering, Delia got up from her seat and headed over to the cabinet, pulling out a bag of mini marshmallows. Both Aiden and Michelle began to clamor for them, earning a snicker from their mother.

"More sugar?" She teased.

"Might as well go all the way, right?" Delia whimsically questioned.

Misty showed off a sideways smile and shrugged her shoulders. "Go big or go home!"

Delia opened the bag and offered it to her grandchildren. "Do you two want to put your own marshmallows in?"

"Ya!" They both squealed.

"Okay, let's take turns now," Delia softly requested. "Aiden, do you want to be a little gentleman and let your sister go first?"

Aiden didn't seem thrilled, but he managed to squeak out an, "okay."

"That's so nice of you, buddy!" Misty fussed. "Michelle, what do you say to your brother?"

"-ank you," Michelle babbled, giving Aiden a quick hug.

"Aw, so sweet!" Misty chirped.

Delia handed the bag over to Michelle. "Just pull some out and put them in your mug. As many as you want!"

Michelle nodded and reached into the bag, pulling out a small fistful of mini marshmallows and dropping them in one of the mugs. "Done!"

"That's enough?" Delia asked.

"Uh huh," Michelle murmured.

"Alright," Delia laughed. "Your turn, Aiden!"

The little boy happily accepted the plastic bag from his sister and pulled out as many of the mini marshmallows as he could, tossing them in his own mug. Some of the marshmallows tumbled out onto the floor, which Vaporeon was quick to snatch up. Aiden then repeated this action again, and attempted a third time before Misty gently grabbed his wrist.

"Sweetie, let's have a little bit of hot chocolate with our marshmallows," Misty playfully requested.

"Mommy, I wike mawshmallows," Aiden informed her.

"Yeah, they're really tasty," Misty agreed. "But if you fill your mug with them, you're not going to be able to taste any of the hot chocolate! And that's really tasty too."

She managed to wrestle the bag away from her son and placed it towards the end of the table where he wouldn't be able to reach it again.

"They should be cool enough to try now," Delia murmured, touching the outside of each mug. "Yes, perfect! Now they're just warm."

"Alright, you two," Misty breathed, pulling the mugs towards the children. "Make sure you hold on with both hands, okay? And take small sips."

Aiden and Michelle excitedly grabbed onto their mugs and lifted them up towards their lips, taking a small, quick sip to follow their mother's orders. As soon as they put them down, they showed off big, goofy smiles, earning laughter from their mother and grandmother.

"What do you guys think?" Misty asked. "Yummy?"

"Ya!" They both squealed, lifting up the mugs to take another sip each.

"Oh we've created a couple of monsters," Misty sighed, smirking at her mother-in-law.

"The cutest monsters I ever have seen!" Delia exclaimed.

The front door of the house opened up, although no one inside seemed alarmed or even surprised. Ash poked his head in, and Pikachu quickly flew past his face, scurrying into the kitchen without a second thought.

"Hey there, Pikachu!" Misty greeted, holding an arm out towards the mouse. He squeaked excitedly and jumped up, making his way onto the young woman's shoulder. "Did you and Ash have a nice time?"

"Chu!" Pikachu confirmed.

"It would've been a lot better if it wasn't _freezing_ out," Ash grumbled, yanking the scarf off from around his neck. "But Travis and Emily were nice enough to give me some extra firewood so we don't have to trek out there again any time soon."

"Ah, that _was_ nice of them!" Delia agreed. "Of course, that doesn't surprise me. Those two are always looking out for everyone else!"

Ash nodded as he pulled off his gloves and began to unbutton his winter coat. "Hey, you guys are having hot chocolate?"

"Mmhm," Misty hummed. "Your mom made you a mug."

"Thanks, Mom!" Ash chirped, hanging up his coat before stepping into the kitchen and stopping behind the chairs of his two children. "Huh, they look like they're having a great time with theirs."

"I wasn't exactly expecting the hot chocolate experiment to bomb, but the reception has been even better than I thought it would," Misty giggled. "Those two have barely said a word since we let them take their first sips."

"I hope you guys put marshmallows in there," Ash spoke to the twins, causing them to swivel around to look at him. "That's the best part!"

"We did, Daddy," Aiden confirmed.

"Gwammy gave us!" Michelle added.

"Okay, good!" Ash pretended to breathe a sigh of relief. "I was worried."

"No wowwy!" Michelle refuted.

"I'm not now," Ash chuckled. "You guys put that to rest!"

"Aiden actually tried to dump the entire bag into his mug," Misty snickered. "I managed to stop him just in time."

"He gets that from me," Ash admitted, scratching the back of his head. "I used to do the same thing all the time as a kid. I liked to see how long it would take Mom to realize what I was up to."

Pikachu sniffed the air, getting a good whiff of all the hot chocolate around him. Squeaking excitedly, Pikachu jumped off of Misty's shoulder and onto the table, shuffling over to one of the unguarded mugs and taking a quick lap of the liquid inside.

"Pikachu!" Ash groaned.

The mouse picked his head up and twitched his ears. "Chu!"

"Aw, he wanted some too!" Misty giggled.

Ash sighed, but showed his partner a smile. "Alright, I'll share with you."

Misty smiled at the twins, who were back to quietly drinking from their own mugs. "Isn't it nice that Daddy is willing to share his with Pikachu?"

"Uh huh," Michelle squeaked once she'd swallowed her latest sip.

"Would you ever share your hot chocolate?" Misty asked.

"Nuh uh," Michelle quickly refuted.

"No, didn't think so," Misty snickered.

"I don't blame them," Ash said, taking a seat at the table and moving his mug closer to Pikachu so the mouse could take another lap at it. "I probably wouldn't share my hot chocolate either! But Pikachu _is_ my best buddy, so I can make an exception for him."

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu squealed.

"Mowe!"

Misty blinked and glanced down at her son, who was holding his mug out towards her. "More what? Hot chocolate?"

Aiden nodded his head, and her eyes widened.

"Did you really drink that whole thing?!" Misty gasped, gently raking the mug from the young boy and peering inside. "My gods, you're like a drain."

She had muttered it, not meaning for Aiden to hear, but he must've because he started laughing wildly. Misty sighed and put the mug down on the table, offering her giggly son a sheepish smile.

"I think that's enough for one night, little guy," Misty reasoned with him. "There was a _lot_ of sugar in there."

"I wan- mowe," Aiden whined, sinking down in his chair.

Ash raised an eyebrow and glanced at the clock that hung above the kitchen doorway. "It is getting pretty late, for those two anyway. You really thought it was a good idea to let them drink those before bed?"

"No," Misty quickly replied. "I just thought we'd deal with it when we got to it."

"And now we've gotten to it?" Ash deadpanned.

Misty took a sip of her own hot chocolate before lowering the mug. "Just about."

Aiden suddenly jumped up straight in his seat, his lips bending up into an almost twisted smile. "I wanna pway! I wanna pway!"

Before anyone could respond, Aiden jumped out of his chair and went flying out of the kitchen, practically yodeling as he bolted into the next room.

"Mmm, there's the sugar rush," Misty sighed, resting her head in her hand.

Ash's face, meanwhile, seemed to reflect a sense of disbelief. "He just went from zero to 60 in half a second."

"Yeah, our son never ceases to amaze me," Misty breathed, shaking her head as she lowered her hand. "I could write a book, I swear."

"That would make an excellent sequel to the book I could write about Ash," Delia mused, earning an unimpressed look from her son.

"You could make a _ton_ of money off of that," Misty remarked. "I would seriously consider writing that book."

"Misty!" Ash whined.

"What?" Misty innocently replied. "I just want to see your mother make a small fortune! It was a nice comment."

"For you guys, maybe," Ash grumbled, taking a sip of his own hot chocolate.

"I'm gonna _fwy!_ "

The three adults in the kitchen exchanged looks of concern once they heard _those_ words come out of Aiden's mouth from the next room over.

"The worst part of them not being able to make every sound a letter should is not understanding every word they're trying to say," Misty sighed. "I have no idea if he means 'fry' or 'fly'."

"Either way, it's not good," Ash muttered.

"I'll go check on him," Delia offered. "Let's see if I can wrangle that sugared up little boy!"

"Thanks, Mom," Ash sighed tiredly, taking another sip of his hot chocolate.

Michelle, on the other hand, pushed hers away and flew out of her chair, speeding after her grandmother. "I wanna come! I pway! I pway too!"

Ash shot his wife a wide eyed stare, who shrugged in response. "Alright, so the hot chocolate was a mistake. Sue me."

"You'd better have something special up your sleeve if we're going to be up all night with these maniacs," Ash quipped, nodding towards the doorway where Aiden and Michelle's excited squeals could be heard drowning out Delia's calm pleading.

"I always have something special up my sleeve," Misty smoothly assured him. "You've just got to stay sane enough to get it."

Aiden and Michelle both shrieked simultaneously, causing Vaporeon and Pikachu to jump. Ash groaned and tilted his head back, staring up at the ceiling as Misty smirked at him.

"Arceus is testing me."

* * *

 **Who doesn't love some sugared up shenanigans?**

 **I'm so happy I was able to share another year with you all! Here's to a healthy and happy New Year to everyone. See you guys in 2018!**


	31. Baby Hiccups

**Happy 2018! I know it's been the new year for over a week, but this is the first story I've posted in 2018! So...enjoy!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 5 and a half years old**

 **Elizabeth: 3 months old**

* * *

 **Baby Hiccups**

 _Hic!_

The baby's eyes snapped open, and the two older kids hanging over her started to giggle. The baby grimaced, not at all amused and far more confused by what had just happened. After all, it _had_ been enough to stir her from her slumber.

 _Hic!_

There it was again! She grumbled and tightened her little hands into fists, waving them up and down. Her brother and sister were still giggling about the whole thing, which only further irritated the baby.

 _Hic!_

"Aw, Lizzie. Do you have the hiccups, little girl?"

The baby's frustration quelled to an extent as she was lifted up by her father. He was so sweet and so gentle…she adored and was completely fascinated by him.

"Daddy, it was so funny. She had a hiccup and it made her wake up!"

Ash chuckled and glanced at his son. "Come on, buddy, that isn't funny!"

"Then how come you laughed?" Aiden questioned, furrowing his brow.

Ash tried to come up with an excuse, but he couldn't. "Okay fine, it's a little funny. But still, your poor baby sister is a little freaked out! You've gotta feel bad for her."

"I guess so," Aiden murmured, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't get scared when I have the hiccups!"

"You did sometimes when you were a baby," Ash replied. "It scared me and Mommy too."

"Why?" Michelle chirped. "They're just hiccups!"

"Yeah, but we were nervous," Ash sheepishly admitted, scratching his cheek. "You were the first babies we had, so we didn't know what was normal and what wasn't."

"That's silly, Daddy!" Michelle laughed.

"Yeah, it seems pretty silly now," Ash agreed. "But not back then! We took everything really seriously. Now we know not to worry about something small like hiccups!"

 _Hic!_

Ash smiled sympathetically at the baby in his arms and continued, "But that doesn't mean I _want_ Lizzie to have them, either." Raising the pitch of his voice, Ash cooed to the little girl, "We have to try and get rid of those mean hiccups, don't we?"

"I know how to!" Aiden cried, throwing his arm up. "We gotta scare her!"

"We're not going to scare her," Ash sighed. "She's just a baby!"

"How else are you supposed to get rid of them?" Aiden grumbled, tilting his head.

"I'll show you," Ash chuckled. He held the baby against his chest and patted her back until she let out a small burp. He waited a minute, and when the baby didn't hiccup again, Ash smirked and pulled her away, staring into her deep green eyes. "There! All gone!"

Elizabeth cooed happily, feeling much more content now that she was no longer hiccupping every few seconds.

"That's it?!" Aiden cried. "Just a burp?!"

"Yep, that's all it takes," Ash confirmed, nodding his head.

Aiden scoffed and folded his arms. "That wasn't even a _good_ one."

"Ew, that's gross," Michelle complained, narrowing her eyes at her brother.

"So's your face," Aiden fired back, sticking his tongue out.

"Daddy!" Michelle whined, whipping her head around.

"Aiden, that wasn't nice," Ash scolded. "Apologize to your sister."

Aiden blinked before glancing at Elizabeth. "Sorry your burp was lame."

Ash nearly fell on his face. "You know I meant Michelle!"

The boy snickered and finally turned to look at his twin. "Sorry."

Michelle didn't seem totally placated, but since Aiden _had_ apologized, she couldn't really complain about it. Ash, on the other hand, was perfectly satisfied and patted Aiden atop his head. "Good boy."

He put Elizabeth back down on her pillow and turned his attention back to the battle he'd been watching on TV. Aiden and Michelle, on the other hand, exchanged looks with one another before glancing back down at their baby sister. She was smiling to herself and lolling her head from side-to-side.

"Lizzie's much happier now that she doesn't have the hiccups," Michelle noted. "Daddy, you did a good job!"

Ash looked towards Michelle and chuckled. "Thanks!"

"How'd you know to do that?" Michelle asked.

"Lots of experience," Ash replied easily, casually stretching his arms up over his head.

"Cause me and Aiden had hiccups when we were babies?" Michelle questioned.

"Yep!"

Michelle thought it over for a moment before continuing, "what about when you didn't know what to do? What'd you do?"

"Uh…"

"Did you try and scare us like Aiden?"

"No! Of course not! I knew better than to scare babies."

"Did you call Grammy? She always knows what to do!"

"No, I didn't call Grammy."

Michelle raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. "Did you just do nothing?"

Ash sat in silence for a split second before bursting out in nervous laughter. "Okay, that's enough questions for now! Why don't we all sit nicely and watch this battle, huh? It's a really good one!"

 _Hic!_

Aiden and Michelle looked down at Elizabeth. She was staring right back at them, her eyes set wide.

"Again?" Ash groaned, observing the baby. In response, Elizabeth gurgled and frowned.

"Quit sucking in all the air!" Aiden cried. Ash and Michelle both glanced at him, raising their eyebrows. "What? That's how you get hiccups!"

"Where'd you learn that?" Ash questioned, tilting his head.

"Brock," Aiden replied simply.

"Um…okay," Ash sighed, picking Elizabeth back up. "Why do you keep doing that, huh? You know those hiccups are no fun!"

Elizabeth frowned before hiccupping again, whining immediately after and threatening to burst out into a screaming fit.

"It's alright!" Ash quickly assured her, holding the baby against his chest and patting her back once again. She burped, and with that, her hiccups once again ceased. "There we go. Think you could stop taking in so much air, pumpkin?"

Elizabeth cooed softly. Ash knew she probably didn't understand him, and definitely couldn't respond, but _man_ did he wish she could!

"Let's try that," Ash sighed, gently placing her back down. "You know, I'm really starting to see a lot of Mommy in you. It's cute, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me a little nervous…"

Elizabeth mumbled (incoherently, of course) and stuffed a fist in her mouth. Michelle was watching her baby sister intently, and now, she was a bit less impressed by her father than she'd been before.

"Daddy, are you sure you fixed them this time?" Michelle demanded.

Ash seemed taken off guard by his older daughter's question. "Uh…I think so? I mean, I can't guarantee they won't come back-"

"Cause they already did?" Michelle interrupted, tilting her head.

Ash's cheeks flashed red. "Well, I can't really stop her from sucking in too much air…"

"Why?" Michelle prodded.

"Because I can't," Ash groaned, slowly growing tired of the interrogation. He felt like he was in a post-battle press conference!

"But how come?" Michelle asked again. Aiden was switching his brown eyes between his father and sister, grinning with devious enjoyment.

"I just can't," Ash sighed noisily. "No more questions, alright? Let's pay attention to the TV instead! Seriously, this battle is really good."

 _Hic!_

Ash's eye twitched. He slowly turned his head towards Elizabeth, who all of a sudden didn't look too happy again. She was still and quiet, however, until Ash began to look back at the TV.

 _Hic!_

He choked in frustration as he covered his face with his hands. "Why? Why can't I just watch this battle?"

"Daddy, you didn't fix her right."

"I know, Michelle."

"Should we call Grammy?"

"No, Michelle."

"Can I teach Elizabeth how to burp better?"

"No, Aiden."

* * *

 **Aiden and Michelle may be young, but they can see right through their father! Ash is right; they're just as tough as the press, if not tougher ;)**


	32. Packed Lunch

**Here's one that based off a real life story. Not my own, but a friend's. Hopefully it'll give you all a laugh like it always gives me!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 9 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 3 years old**

* * *

 **Packed Lunch**

Misty's brow furrowed as she examined the calendar that hung on the kitchen wall.

She used it to try and keep her life organized, but half the time it just made everything feel more complicated. Probably because there was so much she had to keep track off. Between Aiden's baseball practices and games, Michelle's swimming practices and meets, Elizabeth's dance classes, doctor's appointments, playdates, and work commitments for both her _and_ Ash…the calendar often came up looking like a jumbled mess.

The little square that represented today was particularly bad. Someone from the Pokémon Inspection Agency was due at the gym at 9:30. Ash had an interview at Indigo Plateau at 10. Michelle had swim practice from 11 to 2, Aiden had baseball practice from 12 to 3, and Elizabeth had ballet class from 4 to 5.

The whole day was packed.

Misty sighed and rubbed her temple. The stress was building, and it wasn't even 8 o'clock in the morning.

The pressure only continued to build as Aiden and Michelle came trampling down the stairs, already arguing with one another. Misty twitched an eyebrow and spun around, watching as they stormed into the kitchen.

"I told you not to touch my stuff!" Michelle hissed, her hands balled into fists.

"I already told you I didn't touch your dumb swim bag," Aiden challenged, rolling his eyes.

"You're such a liar," Michelle grumbled, shaking her head.

"Am not!" Aiden cried. "Why would I want anything in there?"

"To annoy me!"

"You two just woke up and you're already fighting?" Misty groaned, finally deciding to interject.

"Mom, I can't find my favorite goggles," Michelle fussed, ignoring her mother's question. "I'm sure Aiden took them out of my swim bag to mess with me!"

"I didn't!" Aiden argued.

Misty sighed tiredly and inclined her head. "Michelle, just because you can't find them doesn't mean your brother took them. I'll help you look for the goggles after breakfast…which I haven't even started making yet."

Michelle didn't seem thrilled with letting Aiden off the hook that easily, but regardless, she gave up the argument. Aiden, on the other hand, seemed quite pleased that he was no longer the target of a witch hunt, and allowed a cheeky smile to grow on his face.

Misty didn't see any of this, however. She already had her back turned towards the twins, retrieving a pan to place on the stove. She switched on the heat before walking over to the fridge to pull out the carton of eggs, carrying them back over to her cooking station.

"Aiden, Michelle," Misty called. She didn't look up from the stove, but she could easily sense she had gained both of their attention. "I have an inspector coming to the gym today, so I have to make sure I'm there early. No later than 9. Grammy is coming over to watch you two and Elizabeth, so make sure you behave for her."

Michelle frowned. "Who's gonna take me to swimming?"

"Quinn's mom is going to pick you up," Misty replied effortlessly. She may have been stressed, but fortunately, her brain was still firing at all cylinders. "And Aiden, Noah's dad will take you to baseball practice."

"Kay," both twins mumbled tiredly.

Misty was about to crack one of the eggs on the side of the pan, but stopped and let out a sharp gasp as realization hit. Maybe her brain wasn't working as well as she thought it was. Aiden and Michelle both exchanged bewildered looks before turning their eyes back onto their mother.

"Mom, are you okay?" Aiden asked worriedly.

"Yeah," Misty sighed, hunching her shoulders. "I just forgot you'll both need to bring lunch with you. But I haven't started on that yet either, and I'm running out of time."

Michelle thought about it for a moment before her green eyes lit up. "That's okay! Aiden and I will just make our own lunches!"

Aiden's eyes widened, but his weren't bright like his sister's. "…what?"

"We should learn to do that kind of stuff anyway, right?" Michelle asked theoretically. "Otherwise we won't be able to cook just like Dad, and that'd be bad."

Misty smirked at the example. "You're right, it's definitely something you should learn. But I don't really want you two cooking a whole meal. Can you just try and make yourselves a sandwich or something like that?"

"Yeah, that'll be easy," Michelle assured, hopping towards the pantry.

"Easy for you to say!" Aiden cried, rushing after her.

Michelle reached the pantry first and pulled open the doors, catching sight of the sliced bread and grabbing the package. She strutted towards the counter, Aiden once again trailing close behind her. Michelle removed the bag's twist tie and was surprised when she pulled out the last two slices of bread.

"I guess Mom didn't realize we had such little bread left," Michelle noted aloud before shrugging her shoulders. "Oh well!"

Aiden blinked hard as she placed both slices on a paper plate. "You're not gonna share?!"

Michelle raised an eyebrow. "How am I supposed to share? I need both pieces if I want to make a sandwich."

"But _I_ wanted a sandwich too!" Aiden bickered.

"That's too bad," Michelle chirped. "Guess you'll have to find something else!"

"Mom!" Aiden shouted, causing his mother to wince. "There's only two pieces of bread left and Michelle took them both for herself!"

"Only two left?!" Misty exhaled sharply. "Ugh, I'll have to try and run to the supermarket today too."

"But what about my lunch?" Aiden whined.

"It is awfully hard to split two slices of bread, Aiden," Misty reasoned with him. "Those would be some very small sandwiches! Could you try and find something else to make?"

Michelle grinned, amused that her mother had suggested the exact same thing as her. Aiden scowled and pinched his sister's arm, causing her to yelp. "Mom, Aiden pinched me!"

"Would you two stop fighting?" Misty demanded, finally losing her patience. "You're starting to sound too much like Dad and I as kids, and it's not cute."

"Kids?" Aiden deadpanned. "You guys _still_ argue like that."

Misty frowned and turned back towards the stove. "Start looking for something to make your lunch with."

Aiden snickered, amused that he had befuddled his mother, and walked back over to the pantry. He browsed the shelves, looking over boxes of pasta and cookies and cereal, cups of fruit and other ingredients that just wouldn't add up for a lunch that he'd have to make. Aiden looked over his shoulder, frowning as he watched his sister use a knife to spread some peanut butter on one of her slices of her bread. He just wanted a sandwich too! It definitely seemed like the easiest thing to make…you couldn't really mess up a sandwich, after all.

When Aiden turned his head back towards the panty, another package caught his eye. He pulled it out and examined the bag before grinning to himself and closing the door, proudly pulling up next to his sister. He dropped the package on the counter, creating a small rush of air that led Michelle to look down. As soon as she saw what he'd put down, Michelle blinked and shot him an incredulous look.

"Hamburger buns?"

"Yeah, it's bread!" Aiden chuckled. "Pass me the peanut butter."

As the twins were finishing up making their lunch, and Misty was simultaneously finishing making breakfast, Ash came down the stairs with Elizabeth in his arms and Pikachu following at his feet.

"Morning!" Ash announced, as cheery as always.

"Ah, look who's finally awake," Misty teased, still keeping her back turned.

"Hey, some people in this family need a little extra beauty rest," Ash quickly, though playfully, retorted. "We can't all just wake up as beautiful as you are."

"Ooh, that was smooth," Misty marveled, sounding genuinely impressed. "How can I even pretend to be mad after a compliment like that?"

"How can you even be pretend to be mad at a face like this?" Ash questioned, motioning towards himself.

"Alright, let's not push it," Misty sighed, her smile deceiving her by widening. "Put Elizabeth down and set the table for me, would you? Breakfast is just about ready."

"Kay," Ash agreed.

He placed Elizabeth down in her chair at the table and gave her a little pat on the head before heading over to the twins, who were hastily stuffing their lunches into brown paper bags.

"What are you guys up to?" Ash chuckled.

"We decided to help Mom out and make our own lunches!" Michelle replied.

"Ah, that was very nice!" Ash crowed. "What'd you both make?"

"I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich," Michelle answered.

"Hey, that's always a good choice!" Ash complimented. "What about you, Aiden?"

Before the boy could respond, Misty's voice rang out, "everyone come get breakfast!"

Aiden and Michelle ran past their father so fast they nearly spun him around. He remained there stunned for a short moment before Misty called again, "Ash, if you don't sit down now, these three are going to eat everything!"

"Coming!" Ash breathed, walking briskly towards the table.

In front of every seat sat a plate of scrambled eggs. In the middle of the table there was a single plate filled with bacon, and a large bowl full of fruit. Aiden, Michelle, and Elizabeth were all grabbing for the bacon, dropping the slices on their plates.

"We're all going to eat some fruit too, right?" Misty prodded. "Not just the bacon?"

"But the bacon's the best part!" Aiden exclaimed, stuffing an entire strip in his mouth to prove his point.

"Maybe, but the fruit is good _for_ you," Misty reminded him. "And please try and take bites of your food instead of shoving the whole thing in your mouth."

Aiden smirked and picked up another piece of bacon, this time taking a more conservative bite of it.

Across the table, Elizabeth picked up her plastic fork (she, unlike the rest of her family, used toddler tableware) and began stabbing rather mercilessly at her eggs. Ash let out a short laugh before covering his mouth after Misty shot him a disapproving look.

"Elizabeth, do you need help?" Misty asked kindly.

"No," Elizabeth quickly refuted. "I do it."

"Of course," Misty sighed, turning her attention back to her own breakfast.

"Hey, I think it's great that she's so independent!" Ash chuckled. "You go ahead and feed yourself, Lizzie."

Elizabeth finally managed to pick up some eggs with her fork and tried to stuff it in her mouth, but it slipped off and landed on her lap instead. Ash's previously broad smile weakened, while Misty was anything but surprised.

"She's independent alright," Misty muttered. "But actually getting the food in her mouth is still a challenge."

This time, Misty took the plastic fork without asking, and Elizabeth didn't protest. The rest of breakfast went without incident, and everyone easily finished off their meals. As she finished chewing her last bite, Misty flicked her wrist to take a look at her watch and check the time. It was just past 8:30 A.M.

"Okay, everyone, plates in the sink," Misty instructed. "Grammy is going to be here any minute, and I don't want her to walk into a messy kitchen!"

All three kids cheered and followed their mother's instructions, even little Elizabeth (who was always up for following after her older siblings in whatever they did).

"Mom, you said you'd help me look for my goggles!" Michelle reminded her mother. "And if we find them in Aiden's room-"

"I remember," Misty cut her off, giving the girl a pointed look. "And I'm almost positive we won't."

"What do you mean 'almost'?" Aiden grumbled, looking somewhat offended.

"Alright, I'm sorry, I'm _sure_ we won't," Misty corrected herself. "No more arguing, alright? Both of you head upstairs and make sure your bags are in order and ready to go so you don't keep Quinn and Noah's parents waiting! I'll be up there in just a few minutes."

Aiden and Michelle both scurried up the stairs. Elizabeth tilted her head and watched them go, only putting it up back upright once they were out of sight.

"Wha- -bout me, Mommy?" Elizabeth squeaked.

"Mmm…" Misty intoned, trying to think. "How about you go play in the living room with Pikachu and Vaporeon? You can all keep an eye out for Grammy, too!"

Elizabeth beamed as she nodded her head before running into the next room. Misty smiled to herself and got to her feet, picking up her plate with the intent to put it in the sink. She was surprised, however, when Ash pulled up next to her and took the plate out of her hands.

"I'll take care of the dishes," Ash offered. "You go help the kids out upstairs!"

"Aw!" Misty giggled and pressed a kiss against her husband's cheek. "You're so sweet! Thanks, Ash!"

"Heh, no prob," Ash assured her, walking towards the sink. Misty watched him go, and as she did, the two paper bags sitting on the counter caught her attention.

"Oh, Aiden and Michelle forgot to bring their lunches up with them," Misty breathed. "I'd better bring them upstairs with me or those two won't remember to put them in their bags!"

Misty moved forward to retrieve the lunches. As she grabbed them, she realized there was something else that had been left out on the counter: a package of hamburger buns.

"What?" Misty murmured to herself.

Opening up the paper bag in her left hand, Misty raised an eyebrow as she pulled out a plastic sandwich container, opening it up and being met with-

"What're you looking at?"

Misty blinked and glanced up at Ash, who was watching her from just a few feet away. The water was running in the sink, and he held a wet plate in his hands, soap and water dripping from its rim back into the sink.

"Oh, nothing," Misty replied lightly, popping the top back on the container. "Just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich our son made with hamburger buns."

"Hamburger buns?" Ash repeated.

"Yeah, we ran out of bread, and when I told him to make something else, I guess he decided to get creative instead," Misty explained, sliding the container back into the paper bag.

"Technically, hamburger buns _are_ bread," Ash pointed out.

"I'm aware," Misty sighed, gathering both paper bags. "And honestly, at this point, I'm too tired to argue how ridiculous it is, because you're right. It's still bread."

Ash blinked and looked over his shoulder at the clock on the wall. "Tired? It's 8:45 in the morning."

"Yeah, and I feel like I've been awake for 15 hours straight," Misty calmly argued. "Don't forget, you have an interview at Indigo Plateau at 10."

"Aw man, that's going to take all morning," Ash groaned, hanging his head. "I'm gonna need to bring myself a mid-morning snack."

"What about a sandwich?" Misty suggested, turning her back to him as she headed for the stairs. "I'll leave the hamburger buns on the counter for you."

Ash turned his eyes from his wife onto the package of buns and shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, I'm not picky."

* * *

 **Basically one day while I was in college, I was hosting an event and one of my friends showed up and took out her lunch of a hot dog bun with Nutella inside of it. They ran out bread in her house so she went with the next best thing. I crack up every time I think about it.**


	33. Junior Spender

**Oops, it's been a while since I last updated! Time to make that up to y'all with this little bit of fluff!**

 **Elizabeth: 20 months old**

* * *

 **Junior Spender**

"Come on, Misty, give it back."

Misty looked up from the laundry she was folding and raised an eyebrow. "Give what back?"

"You know what," Ash sighed, crossing his arms as he leaned against the doorframe.

"No, I don't," Misty replied tersely, her eyes narrowing. "What are you talking about?"

"My credit card!" Ash finally blurted, pulling away from the wall. "It's not in my wallet, and I haven't touched it, which means _you_ took it out."

"Ash, I don't have your credit card," Misty replied tiredly.

"That's what you said the last time!" Ash cried. "Look, I know you like shopping, but you need to slow down a little. What if it gets to the point where we can't afford food?"

"Please, with the way you and Aiden eat, I've already budgeted extra for food," Misty scoffed. "That's the one thing we'll never run out of money for."

"Misty, it's not funny!" Ash whined.

"I know, I'm being serious."

"Misty," Ash stated again, "I need you to give me my credit card back."

"And I _told you_ , I don't have it," Misty groaned. "When was the last time you saw it?"

"Yesterday; the last time I opened my wallet," Ash replied. "Brock and I are going out for lunch in a little while, and it's my turn to pay. I just opened my wallet and it's not there."

"Where were you yesterday when you opened your wallet?" Misty questioned.

"Indigo Plateau," Ash responded. "I had to take out my ID to get into the fitness center."

Misty's brow flattened, much to Ash's confusion. "I hope you didn't drop your credit card on the floor there."

"What?!" Ash practically shrieked. "Why would I have done that?!"

"Come on, Ash, we all know you can be a little klutzy," Misty sighed. "Not to mention forgetful, irresponsible, spacey-"

"Thanks, I get it," Ash grumbled.

"If you dropped that credit card, someone definitely got their hands on it," Misty continued, unaffected by Ash's tone and mood. "Maybe we should close it before they go on a personal shopping spree."

"I didn't drop it!" Ash cried.

"Do you know for _sure?_ " Misty pressed.

"No," Ash admitted rather quickly. "But I also don't know for sure that I _did_."

Misty sighed and slumped her shoulders. "Fair enough."

"So…what do I do?" Ash asked.

"I already told you," Misty murmured, turning back towards the laundry. "Close it. You don't want someone else using it."

"But I don't want to close it right now because I don't know if someone else has it or not," Ash whined. "And if I close it, and then find it, I'm gonna look pretty stupid."

Misty opened her mouth, and Ash quickly cut her off with a growl. "Don't respond to that!"

The gym leader giggled. "Aw, you're so cute when you get all worked up."

Ash was not nearly as enamored as his wife, but he _was_ a bit surprised. "You know, you're a lot less mad about this than I thought you'd be."

"Because I'm not surprised," Misty scoffed. "This is pretty par for the course for you. I can only get mad about something so many times before it becomes routine."

Ash rolled his eyes. "I'm not _that_ irresponsible."

"Says the man who has no idea where his _credit card_ went," Misty quipped.

"Hey, I came up with _some_ ideas," Ash grumbled. "And we don't know if they're right or wrong! Do you think maybe I should call Indigo Plateau and see if someone handed it in?"

Misty shrugged her shoulders, tossing a newly folded t-shirt on the couch cushion beside the laundry basket. "I guess you could try. But the chances of someone handing over a credit card with the Pokémon Master's name on it are pretty low."

"Yeah, I guess you'd know something about that," Ash jibed.

Misty's (likely to be biting) response was cut short by the sound of fervent giggles. Elizabeth came scurrying into the living room, beaming up at her mother and father. Pikachu was running alongside the child, keeping a watchful eye on her.

"Hello, pretty baby!" Misty gasped, kneeling down and holding her arms out towards the toddler. Elizabeth smiled and walked right into her mother's embrace. "Pikachu, have you been following Lizzie around everywhere?"

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu confirmed, nodding his head.

"You are the best babysitter ever!" Misty complimented the mouse. "The cutest one too!"

"Cha…" Pikachu trilled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Uh, Misty…the credit card?" Ash prodded.

"What?" Misty babbled, holding onto their young daughter's sides as she playfully twisted the child at the waist.

"My credit card!" Ash hissed. "We have it figure out where it went before someone goes and makes us poor!"

"That's not how it works," Misty sighed, casting her eyes down and watching as Elizabeth tried to climb on her. As the little girl reached up with her right hand, however, Misty realized that something was being clutched in the child's fist. "Lizzie, what's that? What do you have?"

Misty reached up and gently tugged the object out of Elizabeth's hand: a blue plastic rectangle embossed with silver numbers and letters.

"Um…Ash?" Misty squeaked.

"What's up?" Ash breathed, running a hand through his hair.

"I found your credit card."

Ash's eyes widened. "Seriously?!"

Misty nodded and held the card up for proof. Ash knelt down and snatched it, staring at the item in shock.

"Where'd you find it?" Ash questioned, glancing back up at Misty.

"In Elizabeth's hand," Misty murmured.

"Elizabeth?" Ash repeated. Upon hearing her name, the toddler began to giggle and clap her hands together, totally oblivious to her father's shock.

"How did she manage to get a hold of it?" Misty questioned. "You always leave your wallet on the dresser in our bedroom."

Ash scratched his temple in thought before allowing his face to fall. "Uh…actually…now that I think about it…"

Misty narrowed her eyes as Ash trailed off. "What did you do?"

"I put it down on the couch before because Vaporeon was scratching at the door and I wanted to let her outside."

Misty rolled her eyes. "So you left it in the perfect spot for Elizabeth to grab it."

"But why would she only take my credit card?!" Ash whined.

"Easy," Misty giggled. "She's my daughter!"

"Mama!" Elizabeth shrieked, reaching up towards her mother.

"You silly girl," Misty murmured, kissing her daughter's nose. "What were you going to buy with Daddy's credit card? MooMoo milk? Hair bows?"

"Deff!" Elizabeth babbled, pulling her skirt up.

"Oh, a dress?" Misty gasped playfully. "A very pretty dress for a very pretty girl? Is that it?"

Elizabeth laughed wildly and nodded her head.

"Hey, don't give her any ideas!" Ash cried.

"I'm just kidding," Misty snickered. "She doesn't even have any idea what I'm saying. Maybe in the future!"

"Great, now I've got to worry about _two of you_ blowing through my money," Ash grumbled.

"Excuse me, have you seen Elizabeth's already clear affinity for clothes and shoes?" Misty scoffed. "You've got to worry a lot more about _her_ than _me_."

* * *

 **I can definitely see a scenario where, when Elizabeth gets older, she takes her father's credit card and uses it without his knowledge. She just really likes shopping.**


	34. Be My Valentine

**Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Aka the perfect day for new fanfics!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 7 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 18 months old**

* * *

 **Be My Valentine**

"Thanks, Anton!"

Ash gave a single wave to the young man outside his house before closing the door behind him. It was times like these that he was really grateful the Pokémon League had so many interns working for them. Ash normally wouldn't have asked any of them to run an errand like this, but his day was going to be tight, and he had to make absolutely certain to shower Misty with affection before it got too crazy.

In his hands, he held Anton's special delivery: a dozen bright red roses intermixed with white baby's breath, a bouquet of colorful balloons, and a heart shaped box of chocolates.

Sure, it was a little cliché, but Ash felt "it's the thought that counts" really applied here. Besides, he mostly wanted to show Misty that he loved her and that he _hadn't_ forgotten it was their wedding anniversary/Valentine's Day. He'd treat her something to more unique once work settled down.

The first thing he saw when he walked into the kitchen was Misty, and instantly, his whole face lit up. He had tried to time the delivery perfectly, and it had worked!

"Hey, Misty," Ash greeted smoothly.

Misty's ears perked. "Oh, there you are! I was wondering where you-"

She trailed off once she looked over her shoulder and saw Ash with his armful of gifts. As soon as Ash saw her look of surprise, he laughed heartily and stepped further into the kitchen.

"I just wanted to give you a little anniversary surprise before I had to spend the entire day at the Plateau," Ash explained, holding the gifts out towards his wife.

"Ash, this is so sweet!" Misty crooned, turning away from the sink to take the roses from him. "These are beautiful."

"The chocolates are a little bigger than I was expecting, but that's okay," Ash commented. "Just means we can share them, right?"

"Maybe," Misty teased, winking at her smirking husband.

"You think you can eat this whole thing by yourself?" Ash laughed, holding up the heart shaped box.

"I _know_ I can," Misty challenged, her eyes glinting with mischievousness. "But really, I love this. All of this. Thank you."

She rose up on her toes to give Ash a delicate kiss on the lips. He smiled against it before she pulled away, placing the flowers on the counter.

"I have to get a vase for these," Misty breathed, gently touching one of the rose's petals. "I want to make sure they fully bloom! If they're this beautiful now, I can only imagine how pretty they'll be once they open up all the way."

"You really love those flowers," Ash noted. "Maybe I should've gotten you some more of those instead of the chocolate!"

"Oh no, I appreciate the chocolate too," Misty assured him, turning back around to take the box herself. "I think I might have to break some rules and eat one after breakfast."

"Whose rules are those?" Ash laughed. "Not mine, that's for sure! And only one? In _this_ house? That's like…shameful."

"Hush, I'm trying to be good," Misty snickered, placing the box of chocolates beside the roses. "You know, not overloading myself on sugar before 9 A.M."

"Well that's no fun," Ash badgered, earning a smirk and a shrug from his wife.

"Most things that are considered 'good for you' aren't," Misty reasoned with him.

"Good point," Ash relented, smirking at her.

Misty giggled and turned her head so her hair settled on her shoulder. "I should go get the kids down here. They'll probably start a riot if they don't get their special Valentine's Day breakfast ASAP."

"I can get them," Ash offered.

"No, it's fine," Misty assured him. "You've got a long day of work ahead of you. You should take the time to relax while you can."

"Mist, it's not that big of a deal for me to wrangle them up," Ash chuckled.

"And it's no big deal for me to do it either," Misty calmly argued. "Sit down and get ready for breakfast."

Just as Misty was about to head for the stairs, however, the sound of shrieking caused her and Ash to freeze.

"Was that a _good_ sound or a _bad_ sound?" Ash asked.

"I _think_ good, but to be honest I can't tell half the time," Misty practically whispered. "Is it bad to admit that as a mother?"

"Considering I'm a father and I don't know, no," Ash answered.

Aiden and Michelle came bustling into the kitchen with big smiles on their faces. Elizabeth, who was in Michelle's arms, looked a little confused by her older siblings' jubilation.

"Okay, it was good," Misty sighed, smiling herself as she covered her heart. "I'm assuming you two are so happy because it's Valentine's Day?"

"Uh huh!" Michelle confirmed.

"We want waffles!" Aiden laughed.

"Ah, well, that can be arranged," Misty teased with a light laugh. "They're pretty much ready to be eaten! Why don't you all sit down while I get everything together?"

"Okay!" The twins chimed simultaneously.

"Here Shelly, I'll take your little sister from ya," Ash chuckled, bending down to lift the toddler out of the older girl's grasp. "Not so easy putting this squirmy kid in her high chair!"

"Thanks, Daddy!" Michelle giggled, scurrying over to the table.

Ash, meanwhile, smiled at the toddler in his arms and gently touched their noses. "Hi, pumpkin."

Elizabeth giggled and buried her hands in his hair, gently tugging at his raven locks.

"You are so cute!" Ash laughed, walking over to the table and placing the toddler in her high chair. He was a bit surprised she hadn't put up a fight (Elizabeth was not a big fan of high chairs in general) but decided to just be grateful that she hadn't.

"Alright! Who's ready for Valentine's Day breakfast?"

Aiden and Michelle both began to eagerly clamor, earning a bewildered look from their little sister. Ash chuckled and sat down beside his youngest daughter, glancing over at her confused face.

"You're going to like this, Lizzie," Ash assured the toddler. "Mommy's special Valentine's Day breakfast is so yummy!"

"Yum?" Elizabeth squeaked.

"Yeah, really yummy," Ash laughed. "Just wait until you try it!"

Misty gave everyone at the table their own plate, filled up by a heart-shaped waffle topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Aiden and Michelle wasted no time digging in, but Elizabeth simply watched them with very intent eyes.

"She's always so fascinated by her big brother and sister," Misty giggled, taking her seat on the other side of Elizabeth. "Come on, sweetie, let's try yours! You can go slower than Denny and Shelly, okay?"

Elizabeth patiently nodded her head. "Go –ow."

"Yeah, go slow," Misty laughed, cutting off a small piece of the waffle. "Open up!"

The toddler opened her mouth wide and ate the piece of waffle off the fork. Almost instantly, her face lit up, causing both of her parents to laugh gleefully.

"I think she likes it," Ash commented.

"Yum!" Elizabeth shrieked laughingly.

"Yep, she does," Misty giggled.

"Yeah, cause they're so good!" Aiden exclaimed. "This is the very best part of Valentine's Day!"

Michelle raised an eyebrow. "I thought you liked the candy."

"Oh yeah, that too."

Ash chuckled. "What about the actual love stuff?"

Aiden pulled a disgusted face. "No way, that's gross!"

Misty smiled sweetly at her son's comment. "Aiden, you won't think it's gross when you get older and you like a pretty girl!"

Aiden grimaced. "I don't think so."

Ash smirked. "Yeah, I said the same thing, champ."

Aiden furrowed his brow as he swallowed another bite of his waffle. "Mom sure got you good."

Misty nearly spit out her own bite and had to cover her mouth as she tried to compose herself. Ash sighed tiredly and turned his glare onto Misty, who finally managed to swallow her food.

"I can't help it, that was funny," Misty muttered, sheepishly cutting off more waffle to feed to Elizabeth.

"Yeah, hilarious," Ash quipped, though his lips were bending back into a smile.

Once everyone had finished up their breakfast, Misty busied herself with doing the dishes while the kids scurried off to play. Ash, meanwhile, knew he was meant to be leaving for work, but he wasn't in any sort of rush.

"I don't think it's very fair that I have to go to work today," Ash declared.

"Oh, no?" Misty teased.

"No," Ash grumbled. "And I _tried_ to take off, but Goodshow guilt tripped me into working because there's so much to do!"

"Why is there so much to do anyway?" Misty questioned, arching an eyebrow. "The Indigo Conference was a _month_ ago, and the Ever Grande Conference isn't for another two months. Shouldn't it be pretty quiet up at the plateau right now?"

"Wish I knew," Ash groaned.

"Why don't you ask?" Misty prodded.

"Because I'm pretty sure I'll get an answer I don't wanna hear," Ash chuckled lowly. "Sometimes I think it's better to just play dumb."

Misty thought about that for a moment before deciding, "That's actually pretty smart of you, Ash."

"Thanks!" Ash chirped. "Wait…what do you mean 'pretty smart'?"

Unbeknownst to the two adults in the room, their youngest child had come toddling back into the kitchen, her bright green eyes locked on the counter. She scurried over to it, small and quiet enough that she went completely unnoticed. With just a few jumps, she managed to knock down the flowers and grab a hold of the balloon, which finally got the attention of her parents.

"Lizzie!" Ash gasped once he realized the toddler was there.

Elizabeth, in turn, giggled and shuffled past her father. Ash blinked, watching the little girl as she teetered away.

"What's in her hands?" Ash muttered.

Misty blinked and looked over towards their young daughter, trying to get a better look. When she couldn't, Misty shrugged her shoulders and simply beckoned, "Lizzie!"

This time, unlike when Ash had exclaimed it before, Elizabeth turned around and smiled cheekily at her mother. Now, Ash and Misty were able to clearly see that the toddler was holding onto Misty's roses, and that the balloon was bobbing high up above her head, its ribbon clutched in one of the child's small fists.

Ash's eyes widened when he saw what the toddler had managed to snatch. Misty, on the other hand, just giggled.

"How cute!" Misty crooned.

Ash, however, was panicking. Those were Misty's Valentine's Day gifts! _And_ her anniversary gifts! Until he had time to do something better, at least. But still! Elizabeth was only a year and a half old…what if she destroyed the flowers?! Those were Misty's favorite part of the whole gift!

Laughing nervously, Ash slowly approached the toddler, kneeling down to her level. "Hey there, pumpkin. Those are Mommy's presents! Could you give them back to her?"

"No!" Elizabeth squealed, laughing wildly afterwards.

Ash's face fell, but he quickly turned it towards his wife as she continued laughing. "Mist, I'm trying to save your gifts here!"

"It's alright, they don't need saving," Misty assured him, pulling her phone out of her pocket. "This is adorable!"

Ash blinked. "What're you doing?"

"Taking pictures," Misty replied simply. "Your mom is going to _love_ this!"

Ash sighed and sagged his shoulders. "I guess…"

He looked back over at Elizabeth. The little girl was burying her face in the roses, rubbing the soft red petals against her skin and sniffing the fragrant flowers all at the same time. Eventually, she seemed to have sniffed a bit too much, as she quickly picked her head up and sneezed. Ash's trepidation quickly melted away as he started to chuckle, earning a curious look from his young daughter.

"You're a silly girl, Lizzie," Ash laughingly informed the toddler.

"Ya," Elizabeth babbled, letting out her own giggle.

Misty smirked and snapped another picture of Elizabeth before glancing over at Ash. "Can't stay mad, can you?"

"Okay, I was never _mad_ ," Ash stressed. "I was just worried about your gifts, that's all. But you're right…this is really cute."

"Of course it is," Misty giggled. " _Lizzie_ is really cute! So almost everything she does is really cute."

"Almost?" Ash asked teasingly.

"Her coming into our bedroom in the middle of the night just because she wants to hang out isn't so cute," Misty admitted.

Still smiling, Elizabeth walked towards her mother until she was only a few inches away. Misty turned her attention onto the girl, and allowed her eyes to widen ever so slightly as the toddler held out the bouquet of roses in her hands.

"Mama!" Elizabeth squealed.

"Oh, are you giving these to me?" Misty asked sweetly. Elizabeth quickly nodded her head, which caused Misty's smile to expand. "That's so sweet! Thank you, baby."

She gently took the roses from Elizabeth, but when she reached for the balloon, the little girl whined and turned away. "Oh, you only wanted to give me the flowers?"

Elizabeth nodded her head as she bounced the balloon up and down by its ribbon. Misty giggled delightedly and assured the antsy toddler, "alright, you can hold onto the balloon."

The tiny girl beamed as her mother stood up to place the roses back on the counter.

"Now I should _really_ put these in a vase, before Elizabeth tries to swipe them again," Misty joked.

"Good idea," Ash chuckled lightly.

"Sorry she took ownership of the balloon, though," Misty apologized.

"Hey, it's no big deal," Ash assured her. "If anything, it kind of become a two-for-one gift!"

Misty smirked as she rolled her eyes. "Really? You're going to choose _Valentine's Day_ to be cheap?"

"It's not cheap," Ash calmly argued as he tapped the side of his head. "Just smart."

"Yeah," Misty drawled, her smirk becoming more mischievous. " _Pretty_ smart."

* * *

 **Writing this one basically rotted my teeth out. And I loved it.**


	35. Homework Hell

**Why hello there. I just came back from vacation (which was extended thanks to bad weather back home) and meant to upload this before I left. So it's a few days later than I intended, but I'm still very excited to share this with you all! This one was very fun to write.**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 8 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 2 years old**

* * *

 **Homework Hell**

As a mother _and_ a gym leader, Misty could often find it difficult to balance all of her responsibilities.

That's why she appreciated being able to keep almost everything under one roof most of the time.

On most days, when Misty went to work in the gym, she was able to bring all three kids with her. Elizabeth would spend most of her time in the playroom, watched over by one of her aunts when Misty got too busy. Though Aiden and Michelle would occasionally join their younger sister in the playroom, now that they were older, most of their time in the gym during the day was spent in school.

The twins were privately tutored by a young teacher named Ismene. Ash and Misty had decided relatively early on it would be best for Aiden and Michelle to be homeschooled, since Michelle was pretty advanced for her age and Aiden was a handful when it came to schooling. Both participated in outside activities with other kids and had plenty of friends, so their parents weren't worried about the socialization aspect. The private schooling was solely because it was what Ash and Misty felt would be most beneficial for their older children.

The gym's kitchen served as the twins' classroom. They would sit at the table with Ismene and learn there. Misty would poke her head in occasionally just to check on them, but she knew better than to interrupt their lessons. After all, she wasn't a teacher and didn't want to pretend she knew more than Ismene…because she didn't. But once Ismene was finished, she would always meet up with Misty and tell her how the twins had done that day. For that, Misty was very appreciative.

On this particular day, Misty was busy rearranging some things at the gym's front desk when Ismene walked out of the kitchen. Her footsteps alerted Misty, who looked up with a smile on her face.

"Hey," Misty greeted. "How'd they do today?"

"Good!" Ismene replied. "They both worked very hard today. We worked on some new math skills and also did some reading comprehension. Michelle finished all of her work, so she's done for the day. But Aiden still has some left over to finish."

Misty sighed and dragged a hand down the side of her face. "That's going to be a fight."

Aiden and Michelle came running out of the kitchen, both looking rather excited. Misty was surprised that Aiden was that happy, considering he now had homework to do.

"What do you two say to Miss Ismene?" Misty asked the children before they could say anything else.

"Thank you!" They chirped simultaneously, each giving their teacher a slight bow.

"You're welcome," Ismene replied with a little giggle. "I'll see you two tomorrow!"

Once Ismene had walked out of the gym, Misty turned her attention onto her daughter and suggested, "Michelle, why don't you play with your little sister for a bit before you have to get ready for swim practice?"

"Okay!" Michelle giggled, turning on a heel and darting towards the playroom. Aiden was about to follow right after her, but Misty was very quick to put a stop to that.

"Where do you think you're going?" Misty questioned, sending a chill up her son's spine as he skidded to a halt.

"Um, to go play with Michelle and Elizabeth!" Aiden answered, glancing over his shoulder with a shaky smile.

"Nice try," Misty quipped. "But Miss Ismene told me you have homework to do."

Aiden instantly pouted in response. " _Mom_ , I don't have time for homework! I have baseball!"

"And you know that schoolwork comes before sports," Misty calmly argued. "Now, back into the kitchen. The sooner you finish that homework, the sooner you can get to practice."

Aiden grumbled and trudged his way back towards the kitchen. Misty followed after him, intending to both help him with the work _and_ make sure he wouldn't sneak back out of the room. Once he sat down in his chair, Misty took a seat beside him, causing the boy to roll his eyes.

"Mom, I don't need help," Aiden whined. "I can do it myself!"

"I'm just going to sit here in case you need any help," Misty reasoned with him. "But I agree. You can do it yourself. You're a very smart boy!"

Aiden narrowed his eyes as he flipped open his math textbook to the page Ismene had marked off for him with the paper he was supposed to write his work on. Picking up a pencil, Aiden began to examine the first question while Misty watched. Aiden could feel his mother's eyes on him, and he snapped his head up, alarming her.

"Don't watch me!" Aiden cried.

"Why can't I watch you?" Misty questioned.

"Cause it's weird," Aiden muttered.

"Alright, I'll do something else then," Misty relented, getting up from her seat and walking to the sink. Peering inside, she saw some dishes waiting to be washed. She turned on the faucet and began rinsing them, while Aiden turned his attention back to his textbook.

The first question was looking for the answer to 35 + 45. Aiden furrowed his brow as he thought, struggling to come up with the correct number. He hated math. It would be much easier if he could just use a calculator, but Ismene said he and Michelle had to learn to add and subtract on their own, because they might not always have a calculator with them.

Aiden had ended up putting calculators everywhere (even in his baseball bag!) and showing Ismene to try and prove her wrong, but it didn't do any good. Still no calculator allowed.

Getting bored with trying to calculate the answer in his head, Aiden finally gave up and scribbled a "75" on the first line of paper. With that finished, he moved onto the second question, this time asking for the solution to 80 – 15. Aiden growled. Math was _so_ dumb! He was never going to have to use it as a Pokémon trainer.

The boy suddenly felt something brush against his legs, leading him to take a quick peek beneath the table. Vaporeon had managed to slink into the kitchen, and was currently rubbing herself against him. He chuckled softly and gripped the sides of his chair, leaning further down.

"Hi, Vaporeon!"

The bubble jet Pokémon glanced up at the boy and mewled happily. "Vay!"

Misty, meanwhile, looked over her shoulder and realized that Aiden had once again abandoned his homework, this time in favor of fawning over Vaporeon.

"Aiden…" Misty sighed.

The boy picked his head up and frowned. "Vaporeon just wants to play! I didn't want to ignore her. That's not nice, right?"

"No, it's not, and it's very nice of you to pay attention to her," Misty replied. "But you've really got to get that work done. Vaporeon, come here!"

The water type darted out from beneath the table, eagerly meeting her trainer and standing by her feet. Misty knelt down to pet the Pokémon's head, causing her to purr happily.

"Aiden's a little busy right now," Misty informed her partner. "You can play with him later, okay?"

Vaporeon murmured in agreement and rubbed against Misty's legs instead. Aiden, on the other hand, crossed his arms and started to pout.

"The more you focus on that work, the sooner you'll get it done," Misty reminded her son.

Aiden groaned and put his attention back on the textbook in front of him, picking up his pencil and studying the same problem he'd stopped on before.

 _What a waste of time,_ Aiden thought to himself. _I'm not gonna sit here forever thinking about this stuff! I'll get it done nice and quick, just like Mom said. But maybe not with as much focus as she thinks it needs…_

As soon as Misty had finished washing the dishes in the sink and turned around, she saw Aiden closing his math textbook with a smirk on his face.

"Finished already?" Misty asked, sounding surprised.

"Yep!" Aiden chirped. "It was easy!"

Misty raised an eyebrow. "Easy" was never a word her son used when it came to math. Or any subject, really. Aiden noticed his mother's skepticism, and nervously laughed to cover himself.

"I'm gonna go ready for baseball," Aiden quickly continued, jumping out of his seat.

"Hold it!" Misty cried, causing Aiden to stiffen. "I have to check your answers first."

"Why?" Aiden whined, dramatically throwing his arms down. "I finished all of it!"

"I know, but I want to make sure you did it right," Misty sighed. "Just wait right here while I look it over."

Aiden folded his arms and nervously shifted from foot-to-foot as Misty opened the textbook. She scanned the questions in the book, comparing them to the answers Aiden had written down. As she looked between each one, her brow became more and more deeply furrowed. Aiden noticed this and began to slowly inch back towards the doorway. Maybe if he snuck out before she noticed-

"Aiden, none of these are right," Misty commented, glancing up at her son.

The boy frowned. "What? What do you mean?"

"All of these answers are wrong," Misty reiterated, holding up the paper for emphasis. "Did you rush through it?"

"No!" Aiden immediately cried. "I don't ever do that!"

Misty arched an eyebrow. "Aiden, you rush through your homework all the time."

The boy's cheeks started to turn bright red. "Yeah, well…not this time! I didn't rush!"

Misty sighed and put the paper back down on the table. "Well, now we're going to have to fix the whole thing."

"We?!" Aiden repeated, his voice raising an octave. "I told you I don't need help!"

"Clearly you were having trouble," Misty calmly retorted, nodding towards the sheet of incorrect answers. "Unless, of course, you really _were_ rushing…"

Aiden continued pouting, but walked back over to his seat. As he sat down, he commented, "I only rushed a little bit –cause I didn't want to be late for baseball."

"I already told you that your schoolwork comes before sports," Misty scolded, her tone becoming stronger. "You're not going to practice until this work is finished _correctly._ "

Aiden groaned and threw his head back. "But that's gonna take _forever!"_

"It won't if you let me help you," Misty replied. "So why don't we just go through everything and make those corrections?"

"Fine," Aiden grumbled, staring a hole through the kitchen table.

Misty picked up the pencil and held it out in front of Aiden. It took him a minute, but he eventually reached out and took it from her. With her hand now free, Misty pointed at the first question and read, "35 plus 45. Do you know the answer?"

Aiden drummed the pencil against the table and shook his head.

"Are you actually _thinking_ about the question?" Misty prodded, her voice becoming laced with annoyance. "Or are you still thinking about baseball?"

"Jack and Noah and me were gonna see how far across the field we can throw the ball," Aiden whined.

"Okay, still baseball," Misty sighed. "Aiden, I meant what I said. If you're really not going to try on this homework, then you're not going to go to baseball practice."

"I hate homework!" Aiden cried, tossing the pencil away. "It's not fun. I'm no good at it. I'm good at baseball! And that's fun! I want to do that, Mom. I don't want to do this stuff. It makes me feel stupid."

Guilt quickly flooded Misty. She should've known that was part of it. Aiden wasn't like Michelle…he struggled with schoolwork. He wasn't a fast learner and he didn't really enjoy anything about school. Sure, he loved Ismene, and never misbehaved for her and always tried his best. But Aiden still got frustrated relatively easily, and it really wasn't all his fault.

Misty gently grabbed her son's face, causing his eyes to widen. "You are not stupid, Aiden. And you're not wrong. Homework isn't the most fun thing in the world. But it's important! You want to learn as much as you possibly can. You know that Dad and I think you and your sister's education is very important."

Aiden frowned, but slowly nodded his head.

"Besides, you're very lucky," Misty continued. "Miss Ismene really doesn't give you a lot of homework. You get almost all of your work done with her! A lot of other kids get much more homework than this every single day. And they don't get to play as much as you and your sister do because of it. Miss Ismene does that because she _wants_ you and Michelle to be able to play and be kids. She thinks your education is important too, but she doesn't want that to be the only thing you guys do all the time."

Aiden tilted his head this time. "Do you and Dad think that too?"

Misty smiled. "Yes. Dad and I agree with that very much."

Aiden still didn't look happy, but he reached out and picked the pencil back up. "Okay. Let's get it over with."

Misty giggled at her son's declaration. "I agree. Let's get it over with!"


	36. Michelle Meets Her Match

**Yes, I gave this one shot this title because of the episode Misty Meets Her Match. I thought it was cute. It's also a spin off of sorts to chapter 14.**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 6 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 6 months old**

* * *

 **Michelle Meets Her Match**

Michelle Ketchum was a passionate little girl. There were quite a few things she really liked: reading, drawing, music, and of course, swimming.

She had inherited her mother's love of the water and had always been an extremely skilled swimmer. Several weeks prior, Ash and Misty had signed their young daughter up for a competitive swim team at the Cerulean City Aquatic Center. Michelle had only attended a few practices so far, but she already _loved_ it. It was really fun to swim with other kids her age, and it didn't hurt that she was faster than most of them either. Winning races only made Michelle love swimming even more!

Misty had just dropped the girl off for practice, and Michelle was immediately drawn to the pool. Though she was usually shy, Michelle really opened up when she was with her swim team, and that made Misty beyond grateful.

"I'll be back once practice is over, okay?" Misty called after her daughter.

Michelle stopped in her tracks and spun around to smile at her mother. "Okay, Mommy!"

Misty giggled quietly to herself before heading out. It was very hard for her to trust her children with anyone who wasn't her, Ash, a family member or very close friend, so the fact that she never hesitated leaving Michelle with her swim coaches spoke volumes about them.

Turning back towards the pool, Michelle began scurrying towards the water, taking a seat on the edge of the pool beside one of the girls on her team who she'd started to become friends with. The other young girl looked over and smiled, her orange eyes lighting up.

"Hi, Michelle!" She greeted.

"Hi, Quinn!" Michelle returned, her own smile widening.

"Are you excited to race today?" Quinn asked. She and Michelle had decided last practice that they'd like to race each other to prepare for their upcoming meet. Both girls had approached Coach Mira with the idea, who happily agreed to it.

"Uh huh!" Michelle confirmed. "I've been practicing in the gym pool! I think I got faster."

"Everyone! Look who's back!"

Michelle and Quinn whipped their heads around to look over their shoulders. Mira had just walked in with a girl strolling next to her who Michelle had never seen before. Quinn had, however, and sheepishly pushed her short, dark brown hair behind her ear.

"Who's that?" Michelle whispered to her friend.

"Kylie," Quinn replied just as softly. "She's the best swimmer on the whole team."

Michelle furrowed her brow. "Really?"

Quinn nodded her head.

"Is she mean?" Michelle nervously questioned. Quinn's whole demeanor was indicating to Michelle that something was off.

"Oh, no," Quinn refuted, now shaking her head. "Kylie's nice. But none of us can ever beat her in a race! And she knows it."

Michelle grimaced. Ever since she'd joined the team, _she'd_ been the fastest! But apparently, _this girl_ was considered the fastest.

"Michelle, Kylie, you two haven't met yet!"

The redhead stiffened as Mira walked towards her, gently guiding Kylie by her shoulders.

"Kylie, this is our newest teammate, Michelle!" Mira continued, smiling at the blonde girl before turning her attention onto Michelle. "And Michelle, this is Kylie. She and her family just came back from a trip to the Sinnoh region!"

"Hi," Kylie chirped, appearing a bit standoffish.

"Hi," Michelle parroted, feeling just about as uncomfortable as Kylie looked.

"You know, Kylie, Michelle is also a _really_ fast swimmer," Mira commented, causing the blonde girl to raise an eyebrow. "What do you think about a friendly little race between you two? It'll be good practice for our next meet!"

"Do I still get to race Quinn too?" Michelle timidly asked.

"Of course!" Mira replied.

Michelle thought about it for a moment before deciding, "okay."

"I'll do it," Kylie declared, suddenly sounding much more confident. That led Michelle to grimace and pull her shoulders back.

"Great!" Mira cheered. "Into the pool!"

Kylie wasted no time slipping into the water. Michelle, who had still been sitting on the edge, followed suit. Neither girl had pulled on her goggles or swim cap, but Michelle was just fine with that. She knew she could swim plenty fast without either of them.

"Get ready," Mira instructed the girls. Kylie and Michelle both turned their backs to the pool wall, pressing their feet against it in order to propel themselves as Mira lifted the stopwatch she used to time each race. "Go!"

Each girl pushed off, moving through the water as quickly as they could. Michelle flipped her head left to right in order to breathe, and to catch glimpses of Kylie out of the corner of her eye. She could tell that they were about neck-and-neck, and that she'd have to push herself harder if she wanted to win. Michelle began to kick faster, paddling her arms more quickly to keep up with the pace of her legs. She began to inch ahead of Kylie, which did not go unnoticed by her teammates. The rest of the kids gasped, leaning in closer as both Michelle and Kylie got closer to the other end of the pool.

As soon as the wall came into view, Michelle gave one final, powerful kick, throwing her arm out in front of her. Her palm hit the concrete and she popped up, looking over her shoulder just in time to see Kylie reaching the wall right next to her.

"That was a close one!" Mira marveled, lowering the stopwatch. "But Michelle wins by five tenths of a second!"

Michelle grinned excitedly as her teammates murmured in awe. Kylie, on the other hand, was less than thrilled, and had set her narrowed gaze on the redheaded girl beside her.

"You two are going to make each other so much better," Mira added, sounding quite happy about the fact. "A little healthy competition is never a bad thing, after all!"

 **XXX**

That night, at dinner, Michelle couldn't stop raving about how great practice had been. She told her family all about how she'd been the fastest at practice, and how great it was. That confused the rest of them, however.

"Michelle, sweetie, haven't you always been one of the fastest kids at practice?" Misty patiently asked.

"Not one of, _the_ fastest," Ash corrected her, proudly grinning at their daughter.

"Hush," Misty sighed, warningly wagging her fork at him.

"Yeah, but it turns out there's another really fast girl on the team!" Michelle stressed. "Her name's Kylie."

"Kylie?" Misty repeated. "I haven't heard that name before."

"She just came back from a trip," Michelle explained. "So today was the first time I met her. Quinn told me she's the best swimmer on the whole team. And she was right! Kylie's really fast! Coach Mira said we should race, and we did, and I _beat_ Kylie! Not by a lot, but I did."

"That's awesome, Shelly!" Ash cheered.

"I'm just happy she's beating other kids –sides me," Aiden commented, stuffing a forkful of noodles in his mouth. Elizabeth, who was sitting in her high chair, giggled and clapped her hands together.

"Look at that," Misty crooned. "Lizzie is happy that you won too, Shelly!"

"Thanks, Lizzie!" Michelle laughed, smiling at the baby.

"This is great!" Ash suddenly crowed, startling the rest of the family. "Michelle's got her first rival!"

"Ash, she's not a Pokémon trainer," Misty hissed, narrowing her eyes. "She's a six year old girl! And this is one of her teammates we're talking about!"

"So?" Ash prodded. "Rivalries are good as long as they're healthy. They push you to be better!"

Michelle gently tilted her head as she began to think. "Kylie makes me want to swim faster."

"See!" Ash boasted. "Good! Not promoting any murderous tendencies or anything like that."

Misty groaned and smacked a hand against her forehead.

"But I don't think Kylie was really happy that I won," Michelle continued with a frown. "She seemed kinda grouchy afterwards."

"Well, that makes sense," Ash replied. "No one _likes_ to lose! But I'm sure it fired her up just as much as it fired _you_ up."

Michelle shrugged. She didn't really understand the concept of rivalries. Or a rival. Or any of it, really. She'd heard her father talk about such things before (he seemed to have quite a few rivals, though they were pretty much all friends) but Michelle never thought about having her own.

"It's okay, Michelle," Misty assured her daughter, sensing the child's misperception. "You don't have to worry about having a rival or anything like that. You just have fun swimming with your friends."

Michelle smiled and nodded her head.

"Aw, come on Mist, it's fun to talk about that kind of stuff!" Ash cried.

"Maybe for you, but for Michelle, it's confusing," Misty patiently responded. "Just let her be a kid."

"Alright," Ash relented, sheepishly grinning. "Guess I did get a little carried away."

"You're just passionate," Misty reasoned, smirking at her husband. "That's not a bad thing."

"Yeah!" Michelle agreed. "You like having rivals, Daddy! I don't really know what it's like, but maybe Kylie's my first one! And then I can know! And then I can talk about it too!"

Ash chuckled at his daughter's enthusiasm. "Sounds like a good plan to me!"

 **XXX**

Michelle's next practice was two days later. She was excited to see and potentially race Kylie again. She may not have fully understood the concept of a rival, but Michelle was willing to give it a shot. If her father was so excited about it, after all, it was probably a good thing. He certainly knew a thing or two about stuff like that, after all.

As soon as she walked into the pool area, before she could even put her swim bag down, Michelle found herself face-to-face with Kylie. The young girl had swooped in right in front of her, and was wearing an unrecognizable expression on her face.

Suddenly, Michelle wasn't so excited to see her.

"Um…hi?" Michelle squeaked nervously.

"Hi," Kylie tensely replied, her aqua blue eyes practically burning.

"Um…" Michelle stammered, trying to avoid making direct eye contact with Kylie. "Are…are you excited for practice?"

Kylie shrugged her shoulders.

Michelle groaned internally and allowed her shoulders to sag. "Are you mad that I beat you in that race the other day?"

Kylie suddenly appeared surprised. "Huh? No way!"

Michelle blinked and tilted her head. "But…you seem mad."

Kylie smiled meekly. "I'm not. People tell me that a lot. I think that's just my face."

Michelle started to giggle, but stopped almost immediately. "Sorry."

"Nah, it's fine!" Kylie chirped, suddenly seeming far more upbeat. "I should know better. My mom always tells me to not have that kinda look on my face."

Michelle smiled, until confusion hit her again. "But if you're not mad, how come you came up to me like that before?"

"Oh, I wanted to race you again," Kylie replied. "I was trying to look really tough and serious! But I think I scared you. So…I'm sorry."

Michelle felt a bit embarrassed. "I wasn't scared!"

Kylie raised an eyebrow. "But you sure looked scared!"

"Like how you looked mad?" Michelle questioned.

Kylie thought about it for a moment before letting out a small giggle of her own. "Kay, that's fair!"

Michelle started to giggle too, until both girls finally settled. "You know, I told my Daddy all about our race, and he said he thinks we'd be good rivals!"

"Rivals?" Kylie repeated.

"Yeah, apparently Pokémon trainers do that a lot," Michelle explained. "They have rivals, I mean. My daddy has a bunch of rivals! But…they're all friends. So they're like…nice rivals! He says it's just to make each other better."

Kylie's eyes lit up. "Your daddy is a Pokémon trainer?"

Michelle hesitated for a moment before coyly replying, "uh huh!"

She didn't like to tell people at first that her father was the Pokémon Master. Even at her young age, Michelle had learned that a lot of people would easily take advantage of that. She'd met one too many kids who only wanted to be friends with her because of who her father was. Luckily for her, Kylie didn't seem interested in asking any other questions. Her eyes were just as bright as they'd been before.

"Pokémon trainers are so cool!" Kylie fussed. "I want to be one when I'm older!"

"Me too!" Michelle agreed.

"Alright everyone! Let's get ready to hop in the pool!"

Michelle raised her eyebrows, while Kylie looked over her shoulder. Coach Mira had just made that announcement from the head of the pool, an excited smile on her face. When Kylie looked back around at Michelle, they both had similar smiles on their own faces as well.

"So, you wanna race again?" Michelle challenged.

"Yeah, I do!" Kylie chimed. "And this time, I'm gonna win!"

Michelle smirked, her father's excited face flashing in her mind. He was right; a rival was a good thing. She and Kylie would make each other better…but they would still be great friends.

"Not if I win again!"


	37. An Easter Surprise

**Happy Sunday, everyone! And, of course, Happy Easter!**

 **I love writing holiday themed stories, but was struggling to come up with one for this year. I finally came up with this sweet idea that I really enjoyed writing. Hopefully you'll all enjoy reading it as well!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 10 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 4 and a half years old**

* * *

 **An Easter Surprise**

"The bestest part of Easter is candy and my basket and finding eggs."

Delia smiled at her granddaughter. "That's just about every part of it!"

Elizabeth thought about it for a moment before her eyes widened. "Oh, and dinner, Grammy! I forgot about that."

Delia giggled. "I'm glad you like my cooking!"

"Yeah!" Elizabeth squealed. "Oh, wait! Grammy!"

"Yes, Lizzie?"

"I forgot about dressing up! That's the other bestest part of Easter."

At this, Delia finally allowed herself to laugh freely. Elizabeth was _so_ full of energy and pure joy. She was truly just like her father as a child, and it melted Delia's heart in the best possible way.

"Yes!" Delia chirped, her granddaughter's smile actually managing to get wider. "That certainly is fun! Especially with how cute you're dressed for today!"

Elizabeth giggled and grabbed the skirt of her pink dress, pulling it out to the sides to show off the embroidered flowers that covered it. "It's so pretty!"

"It sure is," Delia agreed. "Did you pick it out, or did Mommy?"

"I did!" Elizabeth cheered, grinning at her grandmother as she toyed with the lighter pink satin bow on her waist.

"You did?" Delia gasped. "Well you have quite the eye for fashion!"

"Like my aunties!" Elizabeth laughed.

"Oh no, is she complimenting my sisters again?"

Delia smirked as she looked over her shoulder. "Is that becoming a habit?"

"She's always been pretty enamored with them, but the more words she learns, the more vocal she gets about it," Misty groaned, stepping into the living room with her arms crossed. "It's becoming a little disheartening."

"I'm sure she's got lots of nice things to say about her mommy too!" Delia assured the gym leader before turning back towards her granddaughter. "Right, Lizzie?"

Elizabeth quickly nodded her head. "Mommy is the prettiest and the smartest and the nicest!"

Misty cooed and knelt down beside the little girl, pulling her into a hug. "Okay, that _totally_ makes up for it!"

Delia laughed softly at the exchange. "She adores you; no doubt about it!"

"I adore her too!" Misty crooned, pulling away from her daughter and gently holding her face in her hands instead. "Are you ready to go to the Easter egg hunt, sprinkle?"

"Uh huh!" Elizabeth chirped. "But I wish Denny and Shelly were coming too."

At this, Misty and Delia both frowned. They had all missed Aiden and Michelle since they'd left on their journey, but Elizabeth had been hit particularly hard. She'd had her older brother and sister around her entire life, after all, and idolized both of them. Now that they were both out of the house, she couldn't play with them or follow after them. Elizabeth was generally a very happy little girl, but it was clear that she was experiencing quite a bit of sadness because of her older siblings' absence.

"We wish they were too," Misty softly replied, brushing back some of Elizabeth's dark red hair. "But I'm sure you'll have lots of fun with the other kids! And I bet you'll win too, with everything Aiden and Michelle have taught you about the Easter egg hunt."

That didn't seem to make Elizabeth feel any better. Forcing a smile onto her face, Misty reached for her daughter's bright pink Easter basket (which the child had already emptied of all its contents) and handed it over to the little girl.

"You'll also have the prettiest basket in the whole park thanks to the Easter Buneary," Misty giggled.

Elizabeth's eyes suddenly snapped open, a look of terror set deeply in them. "What if the Easter Buneary didn't find them?!"

"Find who, sweetheart?" Delia asked kindly.

"Denny and Shelly!" Elizabeth cried. "They're moving around too much! What about their baskets?!"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, little one!" Delia giggled. "The Easter Buneary left their baskets here with yours. They'll get them as soon as they come to visit!"

Elizabeth, however, was still frowning. "Why can't they visit now?"

Delia and Misty both hesitated as they tried to formulate an appropriate answer. Fortunately for them, they didn't have to come up with anything, as Pikachu came darting into the room like a fuzzy yellow rocket, distracting Elizabeth completely. He made a beeline for the basket in the little girl's hands and jumped right in, grinning up at the child. In turn, Elizabeth's smile finally returned, and she let out a few small giggles.

"Looks like you're all ready to go!"

Elizabeth looked up from Pikachu and, much to Misty and Delia's relief, her smile widened.

"Daddy!" Elizabeth squealed, gently putting her basket down as she scurried up to him and grabbed onto his leg.

Ash chuckled as he knelt down to lift the little girl up in his arms. "Is my pretty little girl going to kick all the other kids' butts?"

"Uh huh!" Elizabeth laughed.

"Ash!" Misty hissed.

"Come on, Mist, I don't mean literally," Ash teased.

"I would hope not," Misty grumbled.

Ash smirked at his daughter, who giggled again at the look. "We're just playing. Right, Lizzie?"

"Yep!" the little girl confirmed.

"Right, everything to you is play, play, play," Misty sighed, although her lips were twitching into a smile. "Did you get Elizabeth's sweater like I asked?"

"I did," Ash replied. "I hung it up on the end of the railing."

"Thank you!" Misty chirped, getting to her feet. "Come on, Lizzie. Let's get your sweater and your shoes on, and then we can head over to the park."

"I don't wanna wear that," Elizabeth whined, pointing at the light pink cardigan.

"Lizzie, it's not that warm out," Misty patiently informed her daughter, taking the sweater into her hands. "You have to."

"I don't wanna!" Elizabeth cried. "Daddy, tell Mommy I don't hafta!"

Ash smiled sympathetically at his young daughter. "Sorry, pumpkin, I'm with Mommy on this one! It's a little chilly out there."

Elizabeth whined and tossed her head back, obviously upset that she wasn't getting her way.

"Do you really think throwing a fit over your sweater is worth missing the Easter egg hunt for?" Misty asked the fussy child, folding her arms.

Frowning, Elizabeth shook her head.

"Alright, then let's just put it on and get going," Misty sighed, holding the cardigan out. Elizabeth stretched her arms, allowing her mother to slip it over her arms. "There! It goes very nice with your dress."

Elizabeth, however, was not placated by her mother's compliment. With the scowl still on her face, Elizabeth glanced up at her father and stated, "I wanna go down."

"Oh, uh…okay," Ash murmured, placing the child on the floor.

She quickly scurried over to her basket, lifting it up. Pikachu watched the girl, and when he sensed her displeasure, he jumped out of the basket and onto her shoulder, giving her a small lick on the cheek.

"She was so happy when I first walked in here," Ash fretted. "How come she got moody all of a sudden?"

"I wouldn't say it was all of a sudden," Misty sighed.

"What do you mean?" Ash asked.

"Elizabeth started to think about Aiden and Michelle and got very upset," Delia replied, moving in closer to her son and daughter-in-law. "She was wishing she could go to the egg hunt with them, and then she was worried about them not being able to get their Easter baskets."

"Poor thing," Ash sighed, glancing over at his daughter. "I know how she feels. I just wish there was a way we could make her feel better."

"This might sound bad, but have you two ever tried bribing her when she gets this way?" Delia questioned. "You know, buying her ice cream or some candy?"

"Unfortunately, when she gets in these moods, all she wants is Aiden and Michelle," Misty groaned. "If she's that upset about it, she'll flat out say she doesn't want that kind of stuff."

"That's when we know it's serious," Ash added.

"Well…maybe the egg hunt will be a good distraction!" Delia suggested, her face lighting up. "There are so many other kids there, and Elizabeth is such a friendly and outgoing little girl. And I do know she is competitive, just like her father!"

Ash's eyebrow ticked up. "I think you mean her mother."

Misty, on the other hand, smirked and rolled her eyes. "Don't be so uptight. We're equally responsible for that."

"Guess you're right," Ash relented, smirking as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Can we go now?"

The adults looked down, and were surprised to find that Elizabeth had toddled closer to them, her head tilted with Pikachu still on her shoulder.

"Of course, sweetie," Misty replied sweetly, smiling at the girl. "Let's head to the park!"

 **XXX**

Fortunately, once they got there, Elizabeth seemed to have forgotten her misery over her older siblings. At least, she was having enough fun not to show it for the time being.

She had pretty much run away from the adults as soon as they got there, although Pikachu had accompanied the girl in order to keep an eye on her. Ash, Misty, and Delia stayed back with the other adults, chatting as they watched the children of Pallet Town hunt for Easter eggs. It wasn't long until Elizabeth was back in their sightline, however, and the smile on her face was very much visible from where they stood.

"Looks like the egg hunt did the trick!" Delia crowed.

"You were right, though I'm not surprised," Misty giggled. "You always know exactly what you're talking about, Delia!"

"I wouldn't say _that,_ " Delia laughed nervously.

"There's nothing not to love about the egg hunt!" Ash chimed in. "It's got everything! Candy, competition, hanging out with friends…"

"Ash always got distracted by Pokémon in the grass over the eggs," Delia sighed, shaking her head. "The he'd come back with only a handful of eggs and be so upset."

Misty snorted, and Ash quickly adopted a look of panic. "Mom! That's not true!"

"Oh Ash, no need to get so worked up!" Delia assured him with a smile. "You were just a little boy! I found it to be awfully cute."

Ash grumbled and looked up stubbornly towards the sky, while Misty winked at her mother-in-law. "I always love your stories. That's how I know everything you say is gold!"

"Look how many eggs I got!"

Elizabeth was racing towards her family, excitedly holding out her pink basket. Pikachu was running alongside the girl, a bright purple plastic egg in his mouth.

"How many?" Ash asked with a chuckle, finally looking down as he leaned forward to get a better look in his daughter's basket.

"I dunno," Elizabeth replied. "I can't count that high!"

When Ash saw the inside of the basket, his eyes widened almost comically. "Man, you weren't kidding!"

"I don't do that, Daddy!" Elizabeth giggled.

Misty and Delia took a look as well, surprise crossing both of their faces.

"My, that's impressive!" Delia breathed.

"You found those all on your own, Lizzie?" Misty asked.

"Uh huh!" Elizabeth chirped. "Well, Pikachu helped me. But it was just us!"

Pikachu dropped the purple egg by his feet and joyfully squeaked, "pi-ka!"

"You two sure do make a great team!" Misty commented.

"It's also because I taught her exactly how to win this thing."

Elizabeth blinked and looked between her mother and father, while the adults all looked over their shoulders. Before any of them could react, Elizabeth squealed and ran between her parents, attaching herself to a single leg.

"Aiden!" She shrieked.

"Aiden?!" The adults gasped.

"Oh, good, you all remember my name!" Aiden chuckled. "I was worried about that."

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Misty stammered, frozen in place. "And where is Michelle?"

"I'm right here!"

Michelle was huffing and puffing as she pulled up next to Aiden, glaring at him. "We would've gotten here together if he hadn't run off like a lunatic."

"It's not my fault," Aiden calmly argued. "You were going too slow!"

"Michelle!" Elizabeth squealed, reaching out for her older sister's leg and pulling it in close to her brother's.

"Hi, Lizzie!" Michelle giggled, quickly dropping her irritation towards Aiden. "Did we surprise you?"

"Yeah!" Elizabeth giggled. "A whole lot!"

"Pi-kachu!" Pikachu cheered, darting towards the two older children.

Pichu, who had been sitting atop Michelle's shoulder, smiled and jumped down to greet her evolved form, the two mouse Pokémon rubbing their noses together.

"I know I already asked, but what are you two doing here?" Misty asked. "I mean, not that I'm not happy. I'm thrilled! But still…"

"We decided it'd be fun to come home for Easter and see everyone," Michelle explained.

"Yeah, it's not really as fun to celebrate holidays away from you guys," Aiden added. "Michelle and I are lucky because we have each other, but it's still not the same."

"Oh, how sweet!" Delia crooned.

"Yeah, that was really thoughtful of you guys!" Ash added. "Lizzie was really upset about you two being gone this morning."

"Aw, you were?" Michelle asked her younger sister.

Elizabeth nodded her head. "I was worried about your baskets! But it's okay, they're at Grammy's house! The Easter Buneary left them there for you."

"See?" Aiden chuckled. "He knows what he's doing!"

"I hope this wasn't too big of a surprise," Michelle murmured, watching as Elizabeth started to dig through her expansive collection of Easter eggs. "I know Grammy always cooks a nice dinner, and there might not be enough food…"

"Michelle, have you ever met your grandmother?" Ash chuckled. "She makes enough food to feed all of Pallet Town!"

"There's plenty of food for all of us," Delia agreed. "But that's the least of my concerns! I'm just so happy the two of you are home! Even just for a little bit."

"Us too," Michelle giggled, happy that they weren't causing any trouble for their family.

"Elizabeth might just be the happiest of us all," Misty remarked, watching as the little girl opened up a bright blue egg to show Aiden its contents.

"Grammy!"

Delia hummed and glanced over at Elizabeth. "Yes, sweetie?"

"-member this morning I was telling you all the bestest parts of Easter?" Elizabeth asked.

"I sure do!"

"I lied," Elizabeth chirped, much to her grandmother's surprise. That changed, however, when Elizabeth motioned towards her older siblings. " _This_ is the bestest part!"

Delia sighed happily and beamed at her youngest granddaughter. "It sure is!"


	38. TV Trouble

**I've had this story waiting around for a while so I'm excited to finally share it! It focuses on Misty, but we get appearances from the rest of the family as well (including the Pokémon!), much to Misty's chagrin as you will see.**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 8 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 2 years old**

* * *

 **TV Trouble**

Misty cautiously poked her head into the doorway between the foyer and the living room, surveying the next room.

The coast was clear, which was unusual. Typically, at least one of the kids was in there, making some kind of mess. But there wasn't even a stray toy left on the floor, which again, was unusual. The room was clean and empty and _quiet_.

Misty wanted to celebrate, but choose to do it internally for fear of someone hearing her and rushing in to ruin the moment. Now, don't get it twisted: she _adored_ her family. But alone time was very hard to come by in her world. Someone _always_ seemed to want her, or need her. She really couldn't do anything by herself… _anything._

So she wasn't going to ask or wonder why the living room was vacant. She was just going to enjoy it until her luck inevitably ran out.

Sitting down on the couch, Misty retrieved the remote and turned on the TV. She had the newest episode of one of her favorite shows recorded (because watching it live was basically impossible) and she was planning on fully enjoying it.

"Mommy!"

Or not.

Misty sighed and paused the TV, glancing at the time bar that appeared on the bottom of the screen. She hadn't even gotten five seconds in. Her luck truly was short lived.

"What is it, sweetie?" Misty asked tiredly.

Elizabeth came shuffling into the room, holding onto one of her baby dolls. "I wanna pway."

Misty furrowed her brow as she glanced at the digital clock on the cable box. "Sweetheart, it's almost time for you to go to bed. Maybe we should save playtime for tomorrow."

Elizabeth shook her head and sat on the floor, tilting her head as she gazed up at her mother. "Pway, Mommy!"

Misty groaned inwardly. "Where are Aiden and Michelle? Did you ask them to play with you?"

"Ya," Elizabeth softly mumbled.

"Well, what did they say?"

"No," Elizabeth stated, shaking her head.

"They said no to playing with you?"

Now Elizabeth nodded her head.

"Maybe they just want to play something other than baby dolls," Misty suggested, motioning towards the toy in her daughter's grasp. "Why don't you ask them what _they_ want to play?"

"Cause I wanna pway dolly," Elizabeth whined, glancing down at her toy.

Misty grimaced before an idea popped into her head, causing her face to soften. "How about you ask Daddy? He always plays baby dolls with you, right?"

Elizabeth nodded her head again.

"So I bet he'd love to play with you now," Misty continued. "Do you know where he is?"

Elizabeth pointed in the direction of the kitchen. Selfishly, Misty was relieved, because it wasn't up or down the stairs. That meant she didn't have to supervise her daughter for fear of a catastrophic trip.

"Go ask him!" Misty encouraged, pitching her voice to reflect a sense of excitement. This seemed to resonate with Elizabeth, who almost immediately hopped to her feet and scurried into the next room. Misty, on the other hand, sighed contently and restarted her show.

"Mom!"

Misty's eye twitched as she paused the TV yet again. This time, it was both Aiden and Michelle scampering into the room. Misty knew that when they were together, it generally meant trouble. Especially since neither one looked happy at the moment.

"What's going on?" Misty asked, trying to keep her voice level.

"Michelle won't share her colored pencils with me," Aiden complained.

Misty blinked and shook her head just once. "Why do you want her colored pencils? You're not really an arts and crafts kind of kid."

"That's what I said!" Michelle whined.

"Not usually, but there's something I want to do!" Aiden cried.

"And what is that?" Misty questioned.

"I'm drawing a picture to give to Grammy," Aiden replied. "The other day, we were talking about our favorite Pokémon, so now I know all her favorite Pokémon and I wanted to make her a picture!"

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Misty giggled. "Michelle, let your brother borrow the pencils."

"No way!" Michelle yelped. "He's gonna mess them up!"

"I don't think he's going to mess them up," Misty reasoned with her daughter.

"He's probably gonna snap them in half or something," Michelle grumbled.

"No I'm not!" Aiden argued. "I just want to make Grammy a picture!"

"Michelle, come on, just let Aiden borrow them for a bit," Misty sighed. "Are you even using them right now?"

"No," Michelle begrudgingly admitted.

"So let him use them," Misty concluded. "I'm sure he's going to be careful with them."

"I will!" Aiden cried.

Michelle looked annoyed, but knew there was no way around it. "Fine. But what if he messes them up?"

Misty resisted the urge to smack her own face. "Why are you so worried about it, Michelle? Is it really worth it to get so worked up over when there's no guarantee?"

"Yeah, because I really like my colored pencils and I don't want Aiden to break them or something!" Michelle cried.

"I'll tell you what," Misty sighed. " _If_ something happens to your pencils, I'll buy you new ones. But I think you should just trust your brother. Okay?"

Michelle grimaced. "Fine."

"Good," Misty half-groaned. "Go back upstairs and make some pretty art."

Aiden and Michelle both retreated from the living room, heading back up the stairs. Misty waited for a long moment, anticipating being interrupted again. When everything remained quiet, she smiled to herself and pressed the play button the remote.

This time, she got five minutes deeper in before the next intrusion.

It wasn't thanks to a human this time, but rather Pikachu and Vaporeon. The two Pokémon came in running, each squealing in their own language as they jumped at, over, and around each other, in all different directions. This time, when Misty paused the TV, she was more confused than annoyed.

Although she was _definitely_ still annoyed.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Misty called, hoping to get the two to settle down. It did the trick…far faster than it did on her own children, in fact. "What's gotten into you two? You're both so riled up!"

"Pikachupi," Pikachu whined, leaping into the gym leader's lap to get away from the evidently aggravated water type on the floor.

"Vaporeon, are you causing trouble for Pikachu?" Misty sighed.

The water type mewled softly, shaking her head as she sat down.

"Pi…" Pikachu hummed, narrowing his beady eyes.

"I think maybe you've got a bit too much energy," Misty mused, keeping her thoughtful eyes on her partner. "Torturing Pikachu isn't the way to expend it. Would you like to go in the backyard for a bit?"

"Vay," the bubble jet Pokémon purred. She enjoyed spending alone time back there, particularly when she had a lot of excess energy or simply didn't want to be bothered by her trainer's young children.

"Alright," Misty sighed, getting to her feet. She was still aggravated, but she hoped that once she let Vaporeon out, she would _finally_ be left to her own devices. After all, there weren't many people or Pokémon left in the house to demand her attention.

She walked towards the kitchen, first poking her head in to see if Ash and Elizabeth were still playing in there. Much to her surprise, neither one was inside and the kitchen was empty. Shrugging her shoulders, Misty made her way towards the back door, opening it up to grant Vaporeon access to the outdoors.

"Just scratch when you want back in," Misty reminded the water type.

"Pore!" Vaporeon mewled, running outside. Misty closed the door behind her and walked back into the living room, her eyebrows raising yet again when she realized Pikachu was now missing as well.

"Lucky break for me, I guess," Misty muttered, sitting back down on the couch. "Let's hope it actually lasts this time."

And she did, for another 10 minutes.

That was when Ash came stomping down the stairs like a Hariyama. He wasn't mad or anything…that was just how he moved; as loudly and as clumsily as possible. Misty narrowed her eyes and paused the TV, tossing the remote off to the side.

"I'll never win," she muttered to herself.

"Getting Elizabeth into bed was a nightmare," Ash whined, obviously having not heard Misty's complaint. "She's so hyper tonight! I played dolls with her for a little bit hoping it would tire her out, but it didn't do much good."

"That's not unusual," Misty sighed, tilting her head.

"Pikachu just came upstairs to settle in her bed and keep an eye on her," Ash continued. "Something tells me he sensed she was being difficult from all the way down here."

"Ah, so that's where he went," Misty breathed. "Did you check on Aiden and Michelle?"

"Yeah, they're coloring or something like that," Ash replied. "I told them to start getting ready for bed soon."

"Did they actually agree to that?" Misty asked.

"They said yes but I don't know if I actually believe them," Ash chuckled, taking a seat next to Misty on the couch. She whipped her head around to give him a wide-eyed stare, throwing her hands up. "What?"

"Seriously?!" Misty cried.

"What did I do?!" Ash bit, obviously confused.

"I've been trying to watch a show the _whole_ night, and I keep getting interrupted!" Misty complained.

"So why's it matter if I sit here with you?" Ash asked. "You can watch it, I won't bother you."

"Yeah, right," Misty droned.

"I won't!" Ash challenged.

"You're just as bad as the kids!" Misty cried.

"I am not!" Ash argued.

"I haven't gone to the bathroom alone in over eight years," Misty deadpanned.

"Okay, but I have nothing to do with that," Ash scoffed.

"You just waltz in whenever you want!" Misty yelped. "I kind of understand it when you have to take a shower. But half the time you just come in there because you want to talk to me!"

"Only when it's important," Ash sighed.

"Asking me who I think would win in a battle between two members of the Elite Four isn't an important question, Ash."

"It is to me!"

Misty rolled her eyes and threw herself against the back of the couch. "Listen, I'm begging you. _Please_ just let me watch the end of this show in peace. I don't think that's asking for a lot."

Ash thought about it for a moment, which caused a fire to build up in Misty. She was about to snap at him, when he declared, "okay. I can do that."

Misty raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Sure," Ash replied, shrugging his shoulders. "If you give me something in exchange."

Misty groaned and let her head fall back. "Why is my own husband extorting me?"

"Uh…what's that mean?"

"It's not important. What do you want?"

Ash smirked and sat down next to Misty on the couch, earning another displeased noise from the woman. "I want you to give me a massage tonight."

Misty furrowed her brow as she turned her head towards him. "That's it?"

"Yeah! I've been really sore lately cause of all the training I've been doing for the league. What did you think I was gonna ask for?"

"Something that would probably make you a lot sorer," Misty bluntly replied.

"Normally that's what I would ask for, but I don't think I have the strength for it," Ash admitted.

Misty shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not complaining."

"I know you're not," Ash chuckled. "So…deal?"

He held his hand out for her. Misty stared at it for a short moment before clasping it with her own and giving it a small shake. "Deal."

"Great!" Ash cheered once Misty pulled her hand away. "I'll make sure to keep the kids out of your hair, too."

"Elizabeth will be a challenge," Misty informed him.

"Please, I can handle her," Ash assured with a smirk. "No person better to contain a mini me than, well, me."

Misty giggled at the comment. Ash's smirk widened as he leaned forward to give Misty a quick kiss. "I'll be upstairs if you need me. But I'm assuming you won't."

The gym leader winked at him. "Now you've got it."

Ash got off the couch and headed back up the stairs. Misty watched him go before retrieving the remote, smiling at the frozen TV screen in front of her.

"I really am one lucky woman, aren't I?"


	39. Snow Day

**Today just so happens to be the anniversary of this series! So, to celebrate, another story for you all!**

 **I know it's April now, so a story about snow seems out of place, but we were having snow storms up until about 2 weeks ago and are only now starting to get spring weather, so I figure this isn't too odd! The winter here was rough, so I consider this my formal farewell to it.**

 **Elizabeth: 5 years old**

* * *

 **Snow Day**

The howling wind outside her window was enough to wake Elizabeth Ketchum from her sleep. She groggily opened her eyes, groaning quietly as she turned her head towards the window. There was barely any sunlight shining behind the closed blinds, but Elizabeth instinctually knew it was morning. Rubbing one of her eyes, Elizabeth slowly rose from the bed and swung her legs over the side, sliding onto the floor and shuffling towards the window.

As soon as the little girl pulled back the blinds, she let out a gasp.

The world outside of her bedroom was covered in pure white snow, a flurry of flakes falling from the sky as though she were living inside of a snow globe. The grass, the street, the cars, the trees and bushes…everything was beneath blankets of snow.

Squealing, Elizabeth jumped away from the window and back towards her bed, grabbing her favorite stuffed Pokémon with both hands.

"Teddi, it's snowing!" She eagerly whispered to the bear. "You know what that means?"

The toy Teddiursa silently stared back at her, and Elizabeth simply giggled in response.

"We can build a snowman, and make snow angels, and have a snowball fight!" She continued. Her excitement dwindled, however, when she was hit with a realization. "Uh oh…school."

She started to pout, twisting her mouth as she glanced back up at the window. "I like school, but I don't wanna go today! I wanna play in the snow!"

Teddi slumped over in her hands. Turning her attention back onto the bear, Elizabeth wondered aloud, "Maybe Mommy and Daddy will let me stay home. Let's go ask!"

The little girl ran out of her bedroom, with her dependable stuffed partner still in her grasp. She made a beeline down to the end of the hall, where her parents' room was situated. They were both still fast asleep in bed, but Elizabeth intended on changing that right away. Taking a small step back, Elizabeth burst into a running leap, landing squarely on the foot of her parents' bed. She was so small and light, however, that it didn't do much of anything to stir her parents.

Sighing, Elizabeth crawled up towards them, switching her gaze as she tried to decide which one she wanted to wake up first. Ultimately, she decided on her father, because he tended to be less annoyed when he got woken up.

With that completed, Elizabeth clambered up on her father, getting in his face as she pulled up one of his eyelids with her small fingers.

"Daddy, guess what!" She squealed.

Ash gasped and jumped up, Elizabeth rolling off of him as she giggled. Misty groaned and pushed herself up, rubbing her eyes as she tried to fully wake herself up.

"What's going on?" She muttered.

Ash sighed and glanced down at his young daughter. "Elizabeth."

The little girl popped back up, beaming at her father. "Guess what, Daddy!"

"What, Lizzie?" Ash breathed, throwing himself back down and staring up at the ceiling.

"It's snowing!" Elizabeth announced excitedly.

"It is?" He asked through a yawn.

"Uh huh," Elizabeth chirped, nodding her head. "I wanna play in it! Can I stay home from school to play in the snow?"

Ash hummed thoughtfully as he turned his head to the side to look at Elizabeth once again. "I think you should ask Mommy that."

"Seriously?" Misty breathed tiredly.

"You know my answer would always be yes," Ash reasoned with her. "You're more rational than I am."

"Hmm," Misty hummed, stretching her arms above her head before turning towards her nightstand to retrieve her phone. "Well, looks like I don't need to decide."

"Why?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The school called me," Misty replied. "They're closed today because of the snow."

Ash shot up and gasped, beaming at his young daughter. "Lizzie, isn't that so cool? You have a snow day!"

Elizabeth furrowed her brow. "What's that?"

"You've never heard of a snow day before?" Ash asked, obviously surprised.

"She's only in kindergarten, Ash," Misty giggled. "This is the first one she's ever had!"

"I know, but they always have snow days on TV," Ash countered. "Haven't you ever seen a snow day on one of your shows, Lizzie?"

"No," Elizabeth squeaked.

"Oh," Ash murmured. "Well…a snow day is when the weather is too bad outside, so the school closes to keep everyone safe. But it also means you get to stay home and do whatever you want!"

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "Like play in the snow?"

"Sure!" Ash chuckled.

"Yay!" Elizabeth cheered. "I wanna play in the snow with Mommy and Daddy!"

All of Elizabeth's excited yelping woke up Pikachu, who'd been sleeping on his trainer's pillow. The mouse yawned and stretched himself out, gazing up blearily at the little girl. "Pi-kachu?"

"Oh, and Pikachu!" Elizabeth giggled. "Pikachu plays too!"

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu squealed, wiggling his ears before jumping into the young girl's arms.

"Lizzie, we'd love to play in the snow with you!" Ash laughed. "But Mommy and I might still have to go to work. Just because your school closed for the day doesn't mean where we work will."

Elizabeth frowned, but her face softened once her mother said, "hold on just a second."

The little girl spun around, watching as Misty tapped on her phone screen a few times before holding it up to her ear. After a few beats of silence, a smile spread across Misty's face as she greeted, "good morning, Nurse Joy! How are you?"

...

"I'm fine, thanks! What's going on at the Pokémon Center?"

…

"Wow, really?"

…

"And have you heard anything about the roads?"

…

"Alright. Thanks for letting me know! You're the best!"

…

"Right. Talk to you later!"

She ended the call and beamed at her husband, who seemed confused.

"Why'd you call Nurse Joy?" Ash asked.

"I wanted to check on the status of the Pokémon Center, because after a big storm like this, it gives me a better idea of what to do with the gym," Misty explained.

"Oh, I get it," Ash breathed. "So what did she say?"

"The center is completely booked with trainers," Misty replied. "They all stayed there overnight to keep safe from the storm, and most are still sleeping in. But Nurse Joy also told me that the streets and the sidewalks are a complete mess, and it's probably going to take most of the day for the city to clean it all up. So those trainers probably aren't leaving the center today. Even for a gym battle."

Ash hummed thoughtfully. "And if the roads are bad, that means-"

"There's no way for you to get to Indigo Plateau," Misty finished his sentence.

Ash's eyes lit up, but they dimmed a bit when his own phone rang. Retrieving the device, Ash scanned the screen before announcing, "I guess it doesn't even matter. Indigo Plateau is closed today. Lance just texted me."

Elizabeth gasped and began bouncing up and down on her knees. "That means we _all_ get to stay home and play in the snow!"

"Sure do!" Ash chuckled, a big grin on his face.

"Pi!" Pikachu chimed in.

Misty smirked and shook her head. "Wish I could be as excited as the rest of you."

Elizabeth frowned. "You don't want to play, Mommy?"

"No, of course I want to play with you!" Misty quickly rectified. "I just don't really like snow as much as you guys do."

"Why?" Elizabeth asked. "It's fun! And it's soft and cold and you can build a snowman and make snow angels and eat it like a snow cone!"

Misty smiled and giggled softly at her daughter's exuberance. "You're just as carefree as Daddy. It's very cute!"

Elizabeth grinned, one that was very similar to her father's. "I like being like Daddy!"

"I know you do," Misty laughed gently.

"But I'm like Mommy too," Elizabeth casually added, smiling as she rubbed her nose against Pikachu's head.

Ash chuckled strongly, Misty humming amusedly and raising an eyebrow. "I'm glad you think so!"

Elizabeth cheerfully nodded her head before announcing, "I'm gonna get dressed to play in the snow!"

"Wait, Lizzie!" Misty cried as the young girl put Pikachu down to crawl off the bed. The mouse, always worried about the child's safety, was quick to scurry after her, hopping aboard the girl's shoulder as she dismounted to the floor and ran straight out of the room. "No stopping her."

"She's just really excited for her first snow day!" Ash crowed.

Misty smirked and shook her head. "She didn't even know what a snow day was until you told her."

"Yeah, but now she loves it!" Ash chuckled.

"I won't be surprised if she asks for one every single day now," Misty sighed, though the smile was still on her face.

"Nah, she loves school," Ash refuted. "She just doesn't want to miss out on all the fun in the snow!"

"I _really_ wish I was as excited as you two," Misty remarked.

Ash waggled his eyebrows, much to Misty's confusion. "I can make you excited for the snow."

"No you can't," Misty deadpanned, reaching out to playfully flick Ash between the eyes. "The only thing I get excited about when it comes to snow is when it melts."

Ash frowned, sagging his shoulders. "Not even playing in it with our adorable little girl?"

"She makes it tolerable," Misty admitted.

"And me?" Ash asked hopefully.

"No," Misty quickly replied, earning a pout from her husband.

"Help! Help!"

Ash and Misty both straightened up and prepared to jump out of bed, but relaxed when Elizabeth came teetering back into their room, one of her legs in her snow pants with the other half trailing behind her.

"What're you doing, you crazy girl?" Ash snickered.

"I can't get on my pants!" Elizabeth cried.

"That does seem to be a serious problem," Ash mused.

"Daddy, it's not funny!" Elizabeth whined, stomping the foot that wasn't entangled with her snow pants.

"Ah, _there's_ the part of me she got!" Misty giggled as she slid out of bed. "I know those pants aren't easy, Lizzie. Let me help you."

"Yay!" Elizabeth cheered. As she turned around to run back to her room, however, she tripped over the loose leg and fell to the floor.

Ash's eyes widened as he jumped out of the bed, while Misty let out a sharp gasp and hurried over to the child. "Lizzie, are you okay?!"

"Uh huh," the child squeaked, looking over her shoulder and up at her mother. "That was silly!"

She pulled herself up as she laughed wildly, running back down the hallway with her snow pants still half-on. Misty just watched the girl as she went, unsure of how to react.

"Well _that_ she definitely got from you," Misty declared, turning around to stare at her husband.

Ash just smirked and threw himself back down on the bed, leading Misty to roll her eyes.

"This is already the best snow day ever."


	40. The Perfect Mother's Day

**It's Mother's Day! Which means a story for the day, of course. The question of the day: what would Ash do if he was left to his own devices to plan a fun Mother's Day for Misty?**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 2 years old**

* * *

 **The Perfect Mother's Day**

"What's your idea of a perfect Mother's Day?"

"Some peace and quiet."

"Come on, Mist, I'm serious!"

"So am I!"

Ash scowled at his wife, who was simply smirking back at him. "No one wants that on a holiday."

"I do," she replied calmly. "I never get any downtime! Between the gym, the house, and the twins, it's like I'm permanently on 'go' mode."

Ash, however, was not placated by her explanation. "You can't celebrate Mother's Day by doing nothing. That's no fun! I want to plan something for you that's fun, but still relaxing."

"You and I have very different ideas of fun," Misty reminded her husband.

"Well this time I'll think like you."

"If you were thinking like me, you'd be wishing for some peace and quiet too," Misty quipped.

They were sitting on the living room couch with Aiden, Michelle, Pikachu, and Vaporeon playing by their feet. The twins were still little, so they paid no mind to their parents' seemingly boring conversation. The Pokémon didn't care much either, as they were too focused on playing with the toddlers and keeping them entertained. At the moment, Aiden and Michelle were busying themselves with building a small tower of blocks, which Pikachu or Vaporeon would promptly knock down, eliciting enamored laughter from the young children.

"We could go out to eat," Ash thought aloud, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling. "Do you prefer brunch or dinner?"

"With the twins? Neither," Misty replied shortly.

"Seriously?" Ash groaned.

"They're not always on their best behavior in restaurants," Misty reminded him. "I really only like to take them out when we absolutely have to."

"Okay…" Ash droned. "What about…bowling?"

"Bowling?" Misty repeated. "Are you planning a kid's birthday party?"

"You're making this so hard," Ash whined.

Misty giggled softly, but then added sincerely, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be so difficult. I'm just not used to putting myself first anymore, you know?"

"Yeah, I do," Ash relented.

"So why don't you just surprise me?" Misty suggested, leading Ash to raise an eyebrow in interest. "I trust you."

"You shooting down my last two suggestions says otherwise," Ash joked.

"Alright, I won't do that this time!" Misty cried. "I promise!"

Ash smirked and slowly nodded his head. "Alright, then. I'll come up with something great!"

 **XXX**

"I need help coming up with something great."

Brock, who had met up with Ash at the training fields at Indigo Plateau for some practice battling, seemed taken off guard by the plea. "Ash, you know you're my best friend, and I'd do anything to help you, but why wouldn't you go to someone like your mom and ask _her_ about this?"

"Because we didn't celebrate Mother's Day full out when I was growing up," Ash sighed. "I would draw her a picture or get her a little gift with my allowance, and we'd either have a nice dinner at home or sometimes go out to a decent restaurant if we could afford it at the time."

"That makes sense," Brock hummed, "but still, why me? I'm not necessarily an expert at Mother's Day celebrations."

"No, but you are an expert with women!" Ash crowed. When Brock shot him a disbelieving look, Ash replied, "Well, you're better than I am."

"That's not saying much," Brock grumbled. "Besides, you're very good with Misty! She's the only woman you don't need any help with, and the only woman you actually need to impress."

"I guess, but this is different," Ash continued. "The twins are getting older now, and they're starting to understand this kind of stuff. They're always picking things out to bring back to Misty as gifts. Seriously, _anything_. Aiden brought her back a little rock the other day. It was super cute. And Misty _loved_ it! So I want to do something that involves them, because it's Mother's Day after all…we wouldn't even be celebrating it if it wasn't for them."

Brock's face slowly changed as realization hit him. "Wait…that's perfect!"

Ash twisted his mouth. "What's perfect?"

"I shouldn't be the one helping you out with this," Brock declared. "Aiden and Michelle should."

Now it was Ash's turn to be taken off guard. "I know I said I wanted to involve them, but I don't know about planning a whole day, Brocko. They're still only two years old."

"Yeah, but you said it yourself," Brock continued. "Misty is thrilled with whatever they do for her, because they're so young and sweet and innocent. If they decide to give her something, or plan something for her, she'll love it no matter what because it was their idea."

Ash's face became thoughtful. "That's actually not bad."

Brock smirked as he shrugged his shoulders. "What can I say? I do what I can."

 **XXX**

As soon as the twins started to get a little too loud, Ash gently shushed them.

"We don't want Mommy to hear us! This is a surprise, right?"

The young children were transfixed by their father's whispered voice, but soon broke back out into big smiles and nodded their heads. Both were holding a bouquet of bright red flowers in their little arms.

Ash had taken Brock's direction and asked the twins what they wanted to do for Misty for Mother's Day. He swore he'd never seen the kids' eyes light up the way they had when he posed that question…and that was saying something, considering they were two years old and got insanely excited over some of the most basic things.

"Let's go in nice and quiet, okay?" Ash asked, nodding towards the door beside him.

Once again, the twins nodded.

Ash opened the door, slowly and carefully, and motioned for the twins to go inside. Aiden and Michelle padded in lightly, just as their father had suggested. Ash watched diligently, quietly following after the two. Misty was still fast asleep, as was Pikachu on Ash's pillow and Vaporeon at the end of the bed.

Knowing the twins wouldn't be able to get up on their own, Ash lifted them both up and placed them on the bed. Aiden and Michelle set the flowers down so they could crawl over to their mother and gently shake her awake (they had wanted to jump on her, but Ash advised a nicer way since it was Mother's Day after all). It didn't take them too long, since Misty was now conditioned to awake to any unusual sounds or movements. As soon as she saw the two toddlers hovering over her, she smiled and rolled onto her back, stretching her arms over her head.

"Good morning, you two," she crooned.

Aiden and Michelle just giggled in response. Misty appeared somewhat confused, although the smile remained on her face. Silence hung in the air until Ash cleared his throat, gaining Misty's attention. The twins, on the other hand, were still grinning goofily at her.

"Aiden, Michelle, what do you want to say to Mommy?" Ash prodded.

"-appy Mofer's Day!" Aiden exclaimed, his face managing to light up even more.

"Happy Mommy Day," Michelle recited almost robotically, although she was still smiling from ear-to-ear.

"Aw, how sweet!" Misty giggled, finally sitting up and pulling her young children into a hug. "I sure am the luckiest Mommy in the whole wide world!"

"All they've done so far is wish you a Happy Mother's Day," Ash chuckled.

"Yeah, but they're the cutest babies ever, so I'm still the luckiest," Misty pointed out, winking at him. She turned pensive for a moment, however, before asking, "Wait, what do you mean 'so far'?"

Ash was about to answer, but got cut off by Aiden as he cried, "Mommy, we got you pwesents!"

"You did?" Misty gasped.

Aiden pointed towards the flowers by her feet. Misty reached over and picked up the bouquets, examining them in her hands. "Oh, these are so pretty!"

"Aiden and Michelle both wanted to get you flowers," Ash explained. "We went to Grammy to find the best ones, right?"

"Ya!" Aiden and Michelle chirped.

"She told us that these are the most popular flowers to give on Mother's Day," Ash continued. "They're…uh…"

Misty blinked as Ash struggled to come up with the right name. Finally giving up, Ash reached for his phone and turned on the screen, pressing a few icons before reciting, "Red carnations! They stand for 'a mother's purity, sweetness, and endurance' apparently."

"Well I love them!" Misty crowed. "Thanks, you guys!"

All of the commotion finally awoke Pikachu and Vaporeon, who were both groggy and confused. They both began to mumble and stretch out, distracting Aiden and Michelle and drawing them away from their mother.

"And that's that," Misty sighed through a smirk.

"Not quite," Ash replied, leading Misty to raise an eyebrow. "Don't you remember I said this was all they did so far?"

"Oh yeah," Misty murmured. "What _did_ you mean by that?"

"I had a hard time coming up with something great for Mother's Day," Ash admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "So I went to Brock and he gave me the idea to have Aiden and Michelle come up with the plans. After all, nobody knows fun better than a couple of two year olds! Plus, I thought it'd be sweet if everything we did today kind of came from them."

"That's super cute!" Misty giggled. "What did they come up with?"

"They wanted to go to the park, and then have lunch and ice cream, go swimming in the gym pool with the Pokémon, and then they wanted to visit my mom and have dinner with her," Ash recited.

"All of that actually sounds really nice," Misty commented, her smile widening.

"Really?" Ash asked. "Even though it's not the peace and quiet you wanted?"

"I think that was probably too unrealistic of a request," Misty mused playfully. "Besides, it is _Mother's_ Day. I should be spending time with my children! I wouldn't really be celebrating this holiday if it weren't for them."

"That sure is smart," Ash remarked.

"Thanks," Misty chirped, her eyes sparkling with mischievousness. "Besides, this could be relaxing! As long as _you're_ the one chasing after them at the park instead of me."

Ash twisted his mouth, but finally chuckled and relented, "sure, I can do that."


	41. The Gift of a Rocket

**It's Ash's birthday! I've always loved knowing that Ash's birthday is May 22nd, because it's only two days after mine and he's one of my all time favorite characters!**

 **I came up with this idea pretty quick, but I think it's a fun one. Hopefully you all do too!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 9 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 3 and a half years old**

* * *

 **The Gift of a Rocket**

"Daddy, I got you a birthday present!"

"You did?"

Elizabeth beamed and nodded her head.

"I'm so excited!" Ash chuckled. "Can I have it now?"

"Uh huh!" Elizabeth chirped. She pulled her arms out from behind her back and presented her father with an aluminum can adorned by a colorful paper wrapper.

"Oh…it's soup?" Ash asked, trying not to sound too confused.

"Yes," Elizabeth replied quite seriously. "You like soup!"

"I do," Ash confirmed, his joyful smile twisting into a bemused smirk as he accepted the "gift" from his young daughter. "Thank you very much, Lizzie!"

"You're welcome!" Elizabeth squeaked before flitting into the next room.

Ash examined the can in his hands before chuckling once again.

"A little early for soup, isn't it?"

The man glanced up and, with the smirk still on his face, shook his head. "I didn't take this out. Lizzie did."

"Lizzie?" Misty repeated, tilting her head. She'd just come back from a run, based on her attire, and her slightly disheveled ponytail swung behind her as she moved. Pikachu and Vaporeon, who'd went along with her, eagerly skirted around her feet and headed for their nearby bowls of water.

"She told me this is my birthday gift from her," Ash explained, placing the can on the table in front of him. "It was probably the first thing she saw in the pantry."

"Right, because three year olds don't actually have any money to spend," Misty surmised, letting out a short giggle afterwards. "That's very cute!"

"It was sweet," Ash agreed, his more heartfelt smile returning. Pikachu, who had finished his drink, climbed up Ash's leg so he could hop onto the table and examine the can himself.

"Fortunately for you, 30 year olds _do_ have money to spend," Misty continued, winking playfully at Ash. "I just need an idea of what you actually want."

"You don't have to get me anything," Ash refuted, waving his hands in front of him.

"Of course I do; birthday gifts are a necessity!" Misty stressed.

"Chu!" Pikachu chimed in.

"I guess, but you don't need to spend a lot of money on me," Ash replied.

"No one said anything about a lot of money," Misty teased, walking over to the fridge to retrieve a bottle of water. "It doesn't mean I _won't_ , I just didn't say anything specific."

"You know, for a self-proclaimed tomboy, you're _very_ good at shopping," Ash playfully sighed. "And I mean _really_ good. Maybe a little too good."

"Alright, alright, I get it," Misty scoffed once she finished her long sip, although she was still smirking at him. "I'll just figure out your gift myself."

"I trust you," Ash called as Misty turned around and started to head out of the kitchen.

"Good to know," Misty jokingly replied, earning some vivacious laughter from her husband.

 **XXX**

Jason scowled at the blue haired girl sitting next to him.

"Jewel, come on, you've been watching this dumb show for _four hours_ now!" He whined. "Can I please change the channel?"

"No!" Jewel snapped.

Jason winced at the volume of her voice, pulling back. "You're already annoying, do you have to be loud on top of it?"

"I'll do whatever I want," Jewel muttered, her eyes not leaving the television screen for even a second. Her knees were pulled into her chest, her arms wrapped around them.

"Ugh, you're still watching this dreg?"

Jewel gasped as the channel suddenly changed. Whipping around, she narrowed her purple eyes and shrieked, " _Mom!_ "

Jessie was unaffected by the girl's anguish and continued lazily flipping through the channels with the remote in her hand.

"Hey, where'd you find that?" Jason asked. "Jewel hid it as soon as she started watching TV and I've been looking _everywhere_ for it!"

"This is the backup remote," Jessie plainly stated.

"Backup remote?" Jason repeated, sounding impressed.

"Dear, if you don't think I know how to get exactly what I want by now, then you don't know me at all," Jessie teased, winking at the boy.

"I guess a life of crime will help you with that," Jason mused.

"Just one of its many benefits," Jessie agreed.

Jewel huffed and indignantly turned her head away as she crossed her arms. "I can't believe I can't even watch TV in this stupid base…"

"You can watch TV, just not that junk," Jessie calmly argued. "At least not for that many episodes in a row, you can't."

" _And now for the latest in the world of professional battling! Pokémon Master Ash Ketchum will celebrate his 31_ _st_ _birthday tomorrow! No word yet on where he'll be celebrating or what kind of lavish gifts his wife might be gifting him, but I'm sure whatever it is will be impressive!"_

"That twerp just gets worse with age," Jessie grumbled.

"31 sounds kind of old," Jason contemplated.

Smirking almost wickedly, Jewel eagerly replied, "that's _nothing_ compared to Mom and Dad! They're basically _ancient_ compared to him."

A vein popped out of Jessie's forehead as Jewel carried on about her age, willing herself to not have an outburst that was certainly not appropriate for an adult woman…regardless of her true age.

But then, an idea wormed its way into her head, and she managed to come down from her fury. Jason and Jewel seemed to realize this, and both of their expressions changed as they leaned in closer to her.

"Mom, you've got that look in your eye," Jason noted. "And not the really angry one you just had before. This is more like the one you get when you have an idea."

"More like a scheme," Jewel murmured.

"You two are _so_ observant!" Jessie crowed. "As a matter of fact, I _did_ just come up with the most brilliant idea!"

Jason and Jewel waited for Jessie to elaborate. When all she did was stand there with her chest puffed out and a smug look on her face, Jewel groaned and demanded, "Are you actually going to tell us what it is?"

"Of course!" Jessie yelped. "But first…go get your father and Meowth. They have to hear this too."

Jewel rolled her eyes but got to her feet and stomped off to find them. Jason, on the other hand, remained in place, and simply looked up at Jessie. "Does this have to do with the Pokémon Master's birthday?"

"You've got it," Jessie purred, leaning down to gently hold the boy's face in her hands. "And when we're through with it, that twerp's special day is going to be one big nightmare for him, and one huge celebration for us!"

 **XXX**

"I call the first piece of cake!"

"Aiden! It's not your birthday!"

Ash chuckled at the exchange. "It's fine, Mist. I don't care if he gets the first piece."

Aiden's eyes lit up, but they quickly clouded over as soon as Misty replied, "well, I do. He knows the rules. Whoever's birthday it is gets the first piece of cake! You'll get the first piece on your birthday, Aiden."

"That barely counts because I have to share my birthday with Michelle," Aiden whined, pointing at his unsuspecting twin. " _And_ our birthday is forever away! Why couldn't we be born sooner?"

"That's not exactly something that was in my control," Misty teased, smirking at her son.

"She definitely wishes it was," Ash muttered, earning a glare from his wife. "Don't give me that look! You would plan everything down to the _minute_ if you could, and you know it!"

"There's nothing wrong with being punctual and organized," Delia recited, leaning in next to Ash to give him his slice of birthday cake. "Life would certainly be a lot easier that way!"

"Maybe, but then it wouldn't be as fun," Ash commented, shrugging his shoulders.

"Easy for you to say when you're not a pregnant woman," Misty scoffed. "Remind me, Delia; was Ash early or late?"

"Late," Delia replied easily. " _Very_ late. Which, in hindsight, was just a preview of his personality."

Misty choked back a laugh, and this time it was Ash's turn to glare at her…and then his mother. "Mom!"

"I'm just being honest, dear!" Delia sighed, cutting off another piece of cake. "I don't think any of us need to be reminded of your first day as a trainer debacle. Or the day you battled for your title. Or the day of your wedding. Or-"

"Okay, I get it!" Ash cried. "Man, there should really be a rule against teasing someone on their birthday."

"That would never happen in our family," Michelle noted.

"Yoo hoo!"

Michelle blinked and looked over her shoulder. "Grammy, there's someone at the gate."

Delia made a noise of interest and looked in the same direction, Ash and Misty following suit. Just as Michelle had said, there was someone standing on the other side of the white picket fence. They were dressed in a dark blue delivery outfit, a hat covering their hair and large sunglasses obscuring their face.

"May I help you?" Delia asked, folding her hands in front of her.

"Yes, I have a special birthday delivery for the Pokémon Master!" The visitor announced, holding up an elegantly wrapped box as proof.

"Ooh, it's so pretty!" Elizabeth squealed, jumping up and down. She had been playing in the grass with Vaporeon, but got distracted by the box in the visitor's hands.

"Misty, did you arrange for my gift to come here?" Ash asked, partially grimacing.

"No," Misty replied quite seriously.

Ash raised an eyebrow and got up from his seat, Pikachu jumping from the table onto his shoulder. "That's weird. I wonder who it's from."

"One of your adoring fans sent it just for your big day!" The delivery person crowed.

"Wow, that sure was nice of them!" Ash chuckled, taking the gift from the delivery person. "Do I have to sign for this or anything?"

"Not necessary," the delivery person assured, a smirk overtaking their face. "That Pikachu will do just fine."

Ash was confused by that response, until a metal arm burst out of the top of the box and grabbed onto Pikachu, yanking the alarmed yellow mouse off of his shoulder.

"Pikachu!" Ash gasped, the rest of the family following suit.

Out of the hole that had been made by the metal arm, Meowth's head popped up, a devious grin on his face. "Poifect! Just like you said, Jess!"

"Meowth?!" Ash yelped. "But that means-"

The delivery person laughed manically, throwing off their disguise to reveal their true identity: Jessie.

"This was _too_ easy!" Jessie boasted, throwing her magenta hair over her shoulder.

James, Jason, Jewel, and Wobbuffet jumped out of a nearby bush, cheering for their success.

Ash tried to tighten his grip on the box, but Meowth hopped right out, the control panel of the contraption clutched in his paws.

"Pikachu, quick, use thunderbolt!" Ash cried.

The little electric type charged up and fired off his attack, but it did nothing. Meowth started to laugh, informing the stunned Pokémon Master, "dis thing soaks up electricity like a sponge!"

"Vaporeon, hydro pump!"

A sudden burst of water knocked Meowth to the ground, short circuiting the metal arm in the process. Its grip loosened and Pikachu managed to wriggle out, running straight back to Ash and into the man's arms.

"Pikachu!" Ash laughed, giving the mouse a hug. He looked over his shoulder and beamed at his wife, who had a pleased smile on her face. "Thanks, Mist!"

"Of course," Misty giggled. "I'm not about to let these creeps ruin your birthday!"

Jessie, on the other hand, was fuming, and taking it out on Meowth.

"How could you not make that thing water proof too?!" Jessie demanded, screaming over the fence. "You really didn't expect the twerpette to have a water type at the ready?!"

"In all fairness, you only stressed it being electric proof," James timidly piped up.

"I DON'T CARE!" Jessie screamed, causing James to wince.

"I think it's about time we kicked them out of the party," Ash teased, winking at Pikachu. "What do you say, buddy?"

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu agreed.

"You're not about to do all of the heavy lifting yourself!" Misty called, skirting up next to Ash. "Consider this part of your birthday present."

Ash grinned cheekily, earning a smirk from Misty. "Hey, I like the sound of that!"

Team Rocket was so busy arguing with one another to realize that Ash and Misty were co-conspiring with one another, and the pair planned on using that fully to their advantage.

Gracefully throwing her hand out, Misty ordered, "Vaporeon, ice beam! Let's go!"

The water type opened her mouth and unleashed a white beam of energy, first freezing Meowth on the ground and then heading towards Team Rocket on the other side of the fence. Jessie and James managed to push Jason and Jewel away before getting hit by the ice beam, leaving them encased in ice which glittered under the setting sun.

"Uh oh…"Jewel murmured, her eyes shifting towards the angry couple.

"Pikachu, thunderbolt!" Ash commanded.

"Pi…ka… _CHU!_ "

The powerful electric attack managed to strike every member of Team Rocket at once, again sans Jason and Jewel, who'd managed to jump out of the way. The ice around them burst into pieces and sent them all flying, with Jason and Jewel chasing after them on foot.

"Mom! Dad! Meowth! Wobbuffet!"

"We're blasting off again!"

"Wobbaaaa!"

Misty sighed and rubbed the side of her head. "They'll never quit."

"Nah, but their schemes have gotten worse with age," Ash added. "Even _I_ would know to make some water proof if you and your Pokémon were gonna be around."

"That waf AWEFOME!"

Furrowing her brow, Misty turned around and found Aiden with his eyes shimmering, and his mouth full of cake.

"Aiden!" Misty groaned. "You couldn't wait for all of us to be at the table?"

"No," Aiden murmured once he swallowed the mouthful. "When I'm watching a battle that good, I've got to have something to eat!"

"That was hardly a battle, champ," Ash snickered. "It was totally one sided!"

"Yeah, but it was still good," Aiden reasoned with him.

"I think we'd better go sit down before our son eats everyone else's piece too," Misty sighed.

Laughing, Ash replied, "I don't know what's worse: Team Rocket crashing my birthday party, or Aiden eating my entire birthday cake."


	42. Misty's Song

**I've had this one sitting around for a while. Like...a while. But it's a cute one so I'm very excited to share it with you all!**

 **We all know Misty's Song is one of the cutest Pokeshipping hints out there...and I've never actually used it in a story until now!**

* * *

 **Misty's Song**

Ash could hear someone humming.

He opened his eyes and sat up slowly, allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the tent. He looked to his right, where Brock was fast asleep. It wasn't him. He peered down at his pillow, where Pikachu was curled up in a ball…also fast asleep.

Ash furrowed his brow and crawled towards the front of the tent, unzipping it and poking his head through the opening. He saw Misty sitting just a few feet away, staring up at the sky. As he started to crawl towards her, the humming became louder and clearer.

It had been her.

"Misty?"

The red head jumped and whipped her head around, eyes set wide.

"Ash!" She hissed. "You scared me!"

"Sorry," Ash muttered. "It's just…I heard you humming."

That caused Misty to frown. "Oh…I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"

"Nah," Ash replied, shaking his head. "I was having a hard time sleeping anyway."

"Why's that?"

Ash moved up closer to Misty, brushing against her side as he took her hand into his own. Had it been lighter out, he would've seen the deep blush that was now gracing Misty's cheeks.

"I think I have a hard time staying away from you," Ash admitted, smiling gently.

"That's…very sweet," Misty murmured, turning her face away from Ash just in case he _was_ able to see the blush. "I sure am lucky to have you in my life."

"I'm even luckier to have you," Ash whispered, leaning over and gently kissing Misty's cheek.

Misty sighed lovingly and leaned into Ash, resting her head on his shoulder. She continued staring up at the twinkling white stars in the sky, not wanting to ever move from this spot.

"That humming sure was pretty. What song was that?"

Misty could've sworn her heart just stopped beating. "Wh-what?"

"That song," Ash repeated. "I don't think I've ever heard anything like it before. But it was beautiful. What song was it?"

The young woman sighed and closed her eyes. "It's…my song. Something I made up."

Ash looked over at his girlfriend and beamed. "I didn't know you wrote songs!"

"I don't," Misty laughed quickly. "That's the only song I've ever made up."

"Does it have words?"

"Maybe."

Ash snorted at that. "Maybe?"

"Yeah. Maybe."

"Could I hear them?"

Misty picked her head up and narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend. "Why do you want to hear them?"

"Because the humming was so pretty, I bet the real song is even better!" Ash laughed, not understanding why she was getting so testy. "Besides…I really like your voice. When you sing…it's beautiful."

Misty's blush returned tenfold. She was _so_ thankful it was dark enough outside that Ash couldn't see her face. "Ash…"

"Please?" Ash breathed, giving Misty's hand a little squeeze.

Misty groaned and rolled her eyes. "Fine. But just a little bit."

She pulled her shoulders back, closing her eyes so she couldn't see Ash. Knowing there was no escaping now, Misty took in a deep breath, and began to sing the words that she herself had written; the words that she knew by heart.

 _Out here in the quiet of the night,  
Beneath the stars, and moon  
We both know we've got something on our minds  
We won't admit, but it's true_

 _You look at me, I look away._

 _I wanna tell you what I'm feeling,_  
 _But I don't know how to start_  
 _I wanna tell you, but now_  
 _I'm afraid that you might break my heart_  
 _Oh, why should anything so easy ever_  
 _Be so hard to do?_  
 _I wanna tell you what I'm feeling,_  
 _And to say that, I love you._

Misty cleared her throat, refusing to open her eyes. The air around her was still. She could hear Ash breathing. And then, she felt something gently touch her cheek. Misty finally opened her eyes, finding that Ash's face was just inches away from her own. His eyes were wide, shimmering in the moonlight as his lips slowly parted.

"Misty…" He breathed, his fingers starting to tremble ever so slightly. "I…I love you."

Now Misty's own eyes widened. That was the first time Ash had ever told her he loved her! She knew Ash cared deeply about her; they wouldn't have been dating if he didn't. But those three not-so-little words, the ones Misty had been waiting for and hoping for…he'd finally said them. And Misty could tell, just by looking in his eyes, that he had truly meant them.

"Oh Ash," Misty sighed, her lips bending into a gigantic smile. "I love you too."

And with that, the young couple locked lips beneath the moon and stars, having just admitted their true feelings to one another, and making one another whole.

 **XXX**

Five years later, Misty sat in a lane of moonlight, rocking back and forth as she tried to soothe two wailing babies. She held the boy in her left arm, the girl in her right, gently shushing them as they cried.

"Come on, you two," Misty whispered. "Aren't you tired yet? We've been doing this all night! Besides, Mommy doesn't like to hear you both so upset…"

That didn't seem to placate the children. They just kept on bawling. Misty sighed and leaned back in the rocking chair, her eyelids lowering halfway as she tried to fight the exhaustion.

"Alright," Misty breathed. "Let's try a little lullaby, hmm? Maybe this will work…"

 _I wanna tell you what I'm feeling,  
But I don't know how to start  
I wanna tell you, but now  
I'm afraid that you might break my heart  
Oh, why should anything so easy ever  
Be so hard to do?  
I wanna tell you what I'm feeling,  
And to say that, I love you._

As Misty trailed off, both babies began to settle down, making only the occasional quiet cooing sound. Misty smiled at her children, relieved that she had finally found a way to soothe them.

"That was just as beautiful as the first time I heard it."

The gym leader's head snapped up. Standing in the doorway was her husband, looking sleepy but with an adoring smile on his face.

"Ash, what are you doing up?" Misty murmured.

"I heard you singing through the baby monitor," Ash replied simply as he stepped into the room. "You know your voice is like a siren song for me, Mist. I can't stay away."

Misty smirked and shook her head. "You should be asleep."

"You're not," Ash noted, kneeling beside his wife.

"Because the twins were fussing," Misty whispered, glancing down at the now sleeping babies in her arms. "That song was the first thing that got them to quiet down."

"I'm not surprised," Ash chuckled softly. "It's perfect."

Misty blushed. "Are you just saying that because it's about you?"

"No," Ash refuted with a smile. "I'm saying that because you have a beautiful voice, and it's a beautiful song. That makes it the perfect lullaby!"

"Maybe," Misty hummed. "But still…it _is_ about you. Maybe I should change the words a bit for them."

"You could," Ash conceded softly. "What would the words be?"

"Oh, I don't know," Misty sighed. "I can't come up with new lyrics just like that! It takes time."

"It's really that hard to write a song, huh?" Ash questioned.

"It's definitely not that easy," Misty confirmed.

"Wow, so you must've really liked me if you took all that time to write a song about me!" Ash breathed.

"Well, obviously," Misty muttered. "I married you."

That got a big grin out of her husband. "Yeah, you did!"

Misty playfully rolled her eyes before glancing down at the babies once again. "I should put these two back in their cribs. It's probably only a matter of time before they wake up all over again…"

"That's okay," Ash murmured, gently taking Aiden from her left arm and holding the baby against his chest. "If they wake up, we get to hear your song again!"

Misty sighed and got to her feet, holding Michelle close. "That's very sweet of you, Ash. But I'm _really_ hoping I'm not going to have to give any more performances tonight."

"Fair enough," Ash replied, gently placing Aiden in his crib. "But…maybe you could give another one in the morning?"

Misty smirked as she put Michelle down before turning around to face Ash. "I'll think about it."

Ash chuckled and walked forward, gently touching her cheek. "I love you."

Misty sighed, her smirk turning into a genuine smile as she raised one of her own hands to place over Ash's. "I love you too."


	43. Father's Day Dance

**Happy Father's Day, everyone! I wanted to do something a little different for this one shot, and I wanted to focus on Ash and Michelle's relationship, so I came up with this idea that I thought was very cute!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 4 and a half years old**

* * *

 **Father's Day Dance**

"Ah, Ash, just the person I wanted to see!"

The Pokémon Master stopped in his tracks and slowly turned his head. He'd been walking down a hallway of the League headquarters at Indigo Plateau, minding his own business, but Mr. Goodshow (senior) had popped his head out of a nearby office to call out to him, and Ash was a little startled by it, as was Pikachu who was riding on his shoulder.

"Oh, sir," Ash breathed, rubbing the back of his neck. "You scared me a little there!"

"Pi…" Pikachu agreed.

"Hoo, sorry about that!" Mr. Goodshow chortled. "Certainly wasn't my intention!"

"What're you doing here?" Ash asked. "It's not very often we see you around here, ever since you retired."

"I came to give my son my latest idea," Mr. Goodshow proudly replied. "He may be good at his job, but his creativity is sorely lacking."

Ash smirked at the old man's comment. "I'd agree with you, but I like working here. So, what idea did you have? Does it have to do with our next conference?"

"No, not quite," Mr. Goodshow refuted. "It was more of an _internal_ idea! I thought it'd be wonderful if the league threw a father daughter dance for the employees, especially since Father's Day is coming up."

Now Ash was just confused. It _was_ a nice idea, but it was extremely…random. He didn't think Mr. Goodshow would show up to discuss something unrelated to the Pokémon League. "Oh…where'd ya get that idea from?"

"I'd like to say my own head, but it more or less came from my daughter-in-law," Mr. Goodshow answered.

"Goodshow's wife?" Ash clarified before furrowing his brow. "Uh…I mean…other Goodshow. Your son, Goodshow."

Mr. Goodshow laughed. "Yes, indeed! She confided in me that she wishes he would spend more time with their daughter. And then I realized most of the fathers here probably feel the same way! So, we discussed it and she presented me with the wonderful idea of a father daughter dance."

"Sounds cute," Ash chuckled.

"You have a young daughter, don't you?" Mr. Goodshow asked.

Ash's eyebrows rose before a big smile appeared on his lips. "Oh, yeah! She's four now-well, four and a half; she insists the half is very important. She's super cute and kind and she's _really_ smart! She tells me all kinds of things I had no idea a little kid like her could even know. She impresses me all the time."

"You certainly are a proud father!" Mr. Goodshow crowed. "I'm sure you and her would have a lovely time at an event like this!"

Just as quickly as it had appeared, Ash's smile faded. "Oh…that's a nice thought! But she's not really a girly girl or anything like that. She hates wearing dresses. And she's also super shy and gets nervous around too many people she doesn't know. So I don't think she'd have too much fun at that kind of thing."

"Children are very flexible," Mr. Goodshow noted. "She might have more fun than you'd think!"

Ash smiled warily. Mr. Goodshow was a kind man, but he didn't know Michelle the way _Ash_ knew Michelle. "I'll see what I can do!"

"Excellent!" Mr. Goodshow crowed. "I look forward to seeing you both there!"

He retreated back into the office he'd emerged from, leaving behind a nervously laughing Ash.

"I wouldn't count on it…"

 **XXX**

When he came home from work that evening, Ash was not expecting to be greeted by his wife standing less than two feet away from his face, causing him to shriek and stumble backwards, landing on his behind in the doorway. Pikachu, who had panicked as well, managed to jump off of his trainer's shoulder and land on all fours, running from the foyer deep into the living room.

"Are you going to take Michelle to that father daughter dance?!" She asked excitedly.

"Nice to see you too," Ash grumbled, rubbing his throbbing backside.

"Sorry," Misty giggled, reaching down to help him back up. "I'm just really excited!"

"I can see that," Ash breathed. "How'd you know about that anyway? You weren't at Indigo Plateau today."

"I talk to people," Misty replied simply, shrugging her shoulders.

"Right…" Ash sighed, walking over to the couch so he could sit down on something softer than the floor he'd just landed on. "I don't think so."

Misty suddenly appeared very disappointed, scurrying over to him. "What?! Why not?!"

"Come on, do you really think she'd be into that?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow as he scratched Pikachu's head, who had just hopped up beside him. "It's kind of everything she doesn't like. Getting dressed up, being in a big crowd surrounded by people she doesn't know, _dancing_ …"

"Those are all things you don't like either, except for the big crowd thing," Misty noted, taking a seat next to him.

"I guess, but we're not talking about me," Ash calmly argued. "I don't want to make her upset."

"I just think you two would have so much fun," Misty sighed dreamily, clasping her hands together. "Michelle _adores_ you; it would just be the cutest thing! She might even love you enough to not care about wearing a dress."

Ash was not convinced. "You were a tomboy growing up. Would _you_ have put on a dress to go to a dance with your father?"

"Of course, if he was ever around," Misty muttered, rolling her eyes. "I never would've had the chance to do anything like this with him. I wish I did."

That seemed to give Ash pause. Pikachu murmured softly and crawled onto Misty's lap, much to the young woman's appreciation.

"I guess it couldn't hurt to ask," Ash relented.

"Really?" Misty breathed, her excitement returning.

"Yeah, maybe you and Mr. Goodshow were right, maybe she'd really like to go," Ash replied. "But if she says no, I'm not forcing her."

"Fair enough," Misty commented.

"Besides, it _would_ be pretty cute if Michelle got all dressed up like a little princess for one night," Ash mused with a little smirk. "I like that she's more of a tomboy, because I don't know how I'd handle having such a girly girl."

"Good thing you don't have to worry about that," Misty giggled.

"Daddy!"

"Daddy! Daddy!"

Ash chuckled as the twins came running into the living room, both of their arms full of different toys.

"Oh, you two want to play, don't you?" Ash asked with a laugh.

"Yeah!" Aiden shrieked, tossing a soccer ball at his surprised father.

"You normally don't want anything to do with this," Ash noted, holding the ball up. "Also, this isn't even supposed to be in the house. How'd you sneak this past Mommy?"

"That's what _I'd_ like to know," Misty murmured, taking the ball from Ash and examining it as Aiden laughed wildly.

"I'm –neaky!" Aiden crowed.

"You definitely are sneaky!" Ash agreed. "But if you want to play with the soccer ball, we have to go outside, okay?"

Aiden beamed and nodded his head.

"What do you have, Shelly?" Ash asked, turning his attention onto his daughter.

"Bubbles!" Michelle squeaked, holding up the blue plastic bottle.

Misty groaned and rested her head in her hand. "Seriously, how are you two getting all the _outside_ toys _inside_ without me seeing?"

"-neaky," Aiden repeated, still quite proud of himself.

"Well, it'll be fun to go outside and play for a bit!" Ash tried, grinning at the twins. "It's really nice out! And Mommy can play with us too!"

"Uh, I have to make dinner," Misty reminded him.

"We can just order something tonight," Ash scoffed. "Take a break for a change!"

"I don't know, you really think the kids just want to eat pizza for dinner?" Misty teased, knowing what the response would be.

"PIZZA!" Aiden and Michelle both squealed, alarming the electric mouse on their mother's lap.

"Well that took a lot of convincing," Misty quipped sarcastically.

Ash snickered, but stopped when he suddenly remembered something. "Oh, wait! Before we go outside, I have to ask Michelle something!"

The little girl looked up at her father and tilted her head. "Me?"

Ash grinned. Her squeaky little voice was just too cute. "Yeah, you!"

"What, Daddy?" Michelle chirped.

"The Pokémon League is going to have a father daughter dance," Ash began. "Do you know what that is?"

Michelle twisted her mouth and shook her head.

"It's a big party for all the daddies who work there and their little girls," Ash explained.

"A party?" Michelle repeated. "With cake?"

"Yeah, they might have cake!" Ash laughed.

Michelle thought about it for a moment before exclaiming, "I like cake!"

Ash chuckled softly. "So, do you want to go with Daddy?"

"Yeah!" Michelle declared.

Both he and Misty appeared surprised. Somewhat nervously, Misty informed her daughter, "You'll have to get dressed up for it. Is that okay with you?"

Michelle grimaced, but she soon relaxed and answered, "uh huh."

"Really?" Ash questioned, earning a light elbow in the side from Misty.

"Yeah, cause I want cake!" Michelle confirmed.

Ash nearly fell on his face, causing both of his children to laugh. Picking himself back up, Ash rubbed the back of his neck and whined, "Don't you want to have fun with Daddy?"

"I always have fun with you, Daddy!" Michelle cried.

"Aw, that's really sweet, Shelly," Ash cooed. "Thank you!"

Aiden blinked and turned towards his mother. "Do I go too, Mommy?"

"No, sweetheart," Misty replied kindly, ruffling the boy's hair. "It's only for daddies and daughters! But we can do something fun together instead. Sound good?"

"Yeah!" Aiden crowed. "I really don't wanna go to that."

Misty let out a short laugh, shaking her head. "Well, no one could ever say you're not honest, little man!"

 **XXX**

"Aren't you just the most beautiful little girl in the whole wide world?"

Normally, Michelle would've vehemently disagreed and thrown a fit over being dressed up, but for once in her life, she was okay with it. In fact, she seemed downright _happy_.

Misty had picked out a sleeveless white dress with a full skirt and a royal blue lace overlay, with an intricate rhinestone pattern around the neckline. She was fully expecting Michelle to hate it (especially considering she offered to have Michelle pick a dress out, but the little girl refused) and was basically shocked when Michelle went wide-eyed over it.

"I look like a princess, Mommy!" Michelle exclaimed. Her mother had accessories the outfit with a pair of shiny silver ballet flats and a rhinestone headband.

"You do!" Misty agreed.

"Daddy calls me princess," Michelle noted, turning around in a circle as she continued to examine herself in the mirror.

"Yes he does," Misty giggled.

"I want to show Daddy!" Michelle declared, finally facing her mother and beaming.

"We can!" Misty assured her, getting up off the floor from where she'd been sitting.

"Do you think he'll think I'm pretty?" Michelle asked hopefully.

"Oh, Michelle," Misty cooed. "Daddy always thinks you're pretty! He tells everyone all the time how pretty you are. And how sweet and loving and kind and smart you are! He loves you very much."

Michelle giggled wildly, her cheeks turning a delicate shade of pink. "Daddy loves me!"

"Of course!" Misty confirmed, watching as the still giggling Michelle flitted out of her and Ash's bedroom. The little girl bounded all the way down the hall and to the stairs, grabbing onto the railing and holding on tight as she slowly descended each step.

Ash was fully dressed up as well, in a nice, dark suit, and was waiting downstairs with Aiden and Pikachu, who were playing happily together. Ash was beginning to grow a bit impatient, and kept glancing towards the stairs, waiting for Misty and Michelle to come down.

"Daddy, can you bring me cake?"

Ash blinked and finally turned his attention onto Aiden, who was staring back at him with wide eyes. "Yeah, I'll try and bring you back some cake, champ."

Aiden let out a cheer and pumped his fist. "Alright! We're gettin' cake, Pikachu!"

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu crowed.

Ash chuckled at the pair's exuberance. He loved that the kids and his Pokémon got along so well!

"Daddy! Daddy!"

Ash's head snapped back up, and his eyes widened. Michelle had briskly reached the end of the stairs and turned abruptly to face her father, the full skirt of her dress billowing as she whipped her body around.

"I was hoping to give a bit more of a formal introduction, but I guess Michelle was too excited to wait," Misty giggled, shrugging as she appeared behind their young daughter.

"Nah, that was perfect," Ash refuted, sounding in awe as he stood up from the couch. "Shelly, you look like a little princess!"

"Do you like my dress?" Michelle squeaked, pulling at the skirt.

"Yeah, it's very pretty!" Ash replied. "But you're even prettier!"

Michelle began to giggle wildly again, burying her face in her hands. Ash seemed a little confused by her reaction, but glanced up when Misty helpfully informed him, "Michelle sure gets flustered when someone compliments her! She was hoping you'd think she looked pretty. I bet she's a little overwhelmed, even though I told her you would!"

"Of course," Ash crooned, walking over to Michelle and lifting the little girl into his arms. "You're always pretty, Michelle! You don't have to get all dressed up for me to think you're pretty. In fact, you're the most beautiful little girl in the whole wide world!"

Michelle finally pulled her hands away from her face. "I am?"

"You sure are," Ash confirmed.

Michelle beamed and, without any warning, flung her arms around her father's neck. "I love you, Daddy."

Ash smiled and squeezed her more tightly, replying, "I love you too, Shelly."

Michelle pulled back to look at her father, continuing, "I'm more excited to dance with you than for cake!"

"You are?" Ash gasped playfully. "Well that makes me very happy! I can't wait to dance with you either!"

Misty watched the two with the biggest smile on her face, unable to contain her joy. She had always known Ash would make an amazing father, but actually watching it happen in front of her was better than anything she could have ever imagined. It was beautiful and sweet and touching and magical all at once. She might have teased Ash about being dense or doing some foolish things, but this was one thing where he could really do no wrong.

As soon as Ash put Michelle down so she could scamper towards the front door, Misty gently grabbed Ash's shoulder and pulled him close to her, whispering in his ear, "Michelle is so lucky to have you as her daddy."

Ash smirked, and without missing a beat, he countered, "Actually, I think I'm the lucky one for having a daughter like her. And a son like Aiden. I might just be the luckiest dad in the whole world."

* * *

 **Awww :)**

 **By the way, Ash and Misty having the little exchange about not worrying about having a girly daughter is 100% foreshadowing of Elizabeth. They literally have no idea what awaits them in their future ;)**


	44. World's Cutest Pokemon

**The last couple of chapters didn't feature any Elizabeth, so here's a fun one with the focus on her (and some of Ash's Pokémon, too!)**

 **Elizabeth: 4 years old**

* * *

 **World's Cutest Pokémon**

"All Pokémon are cute!"

That was Elizabeth's insistence. Even the ones that most people found hideous or unpleasant, Elizabeth would disagree and have some reason for why she did.

Take, for example, Muk. Elizabeth was particularly fond of her father's. She described him as "very nice and friendly" and "a very pretty purple." So much so, in fact, that Elizabeth declared "Muk purple" her "most favorite purple in the whole world." Whenever Muk was getting too affectionate with someone, and they would complain, Elizabeth was quick to exclaim that Muk was "just being nice" and that it was fun to be friends with such a sweet Pokémon.

It was a similar situation with Trubbish. Elizabeth most commonly saw them when her family was in Unova, and she thought they were cute as well, much to her parents' confusion. After all…it was literally a living bag of garbage. But nope; Elizabeth thought they had "pretty eyes" and were "really colorful."

Even Sharpedo, which Elizabeth had been rather scared of when she was younger, she was now complimentary of. She referred to the yellow markings on their forehead as a star and thought it was "super cool."

Although Ash didn't always follow Elizabeth's train of thought, he loved that she thought so highly of every single Pokémon, no matter what other people thought of them. Misty was too, although she could've done without her daughter's admiration of bug types.

It was a beautiful afternoon in Cerulean City when Elizabeth attached herself to Ash's leg, earning his attention and a big smile.

"What's up, kiddo?" He asked, reaching down to ruffle the girl's hair.

"Daddy, can me and your Pokémon play?" Elizabeth asked, glancing up at her father.

"I guess so, it _is_ our day off from training," Ash replied, shrugging his shoulders.

Elizabeth began to giggle excitedly, releasing her father's leg as she jumped up and down. "Pokémon! Pokémon!"

"Okay, okay!" Ash chuckled, retrieving the five poke balls from his belt. "Pikachu, you want to play with Lizzie and the others?"

"Pi-ka!"

The electric mouse came scurrying from beneath the shade of the backyard's large tree, jumping into a delighted Elizabeth's arms.

"Alright, guys, it's playtime!" Ash announced, tossing the poke balls up in the air to release his current team: Lycanroc, Bayleef, Corphish, Heracross, and Infernape.

The five newly released Pokémon were thrilled when they saw Elizabeth standing in front of them. Ash's Pokémon adored his children, and Elizabeth was especially fun for them because she was at an age where she was very imaginative and playful. Her sugar-sweet personality and natural kindheartedness didn't hurt, either.

"Hi!" Elizabeth greeted the Pokémon, waving at them.

"Play nice," Ash reminded his daughter.

"Daddy, I'm not a baby!" Elizabeth cried. "I know how to play with the Pokémon."

"I know you're not a baby, Lizzie," Ash assured the frustrated child. "I just wanted to remind you!"

That was enough to placate Elizabeth. "Okay! Come on, everyone!"

She started to walk off, still carrying Pikachu in her arms as the other Pokémon followed behind her. Ash smirked and decided that he could step inside for a minute and grab a snack. Since the Pokémon were so protective of the children, they watched after them very well, so he felt safe leaving Elizabeth alone with them for a bit.

Once Elizabeth had gathered the Pokémon where she wanted them, she spun back around and gleefully announced, "we're gonna have a contest!"

The Pokémon all made noises of confusion and exchanged equally bewildered looks. Pikachu, instead, looked up at Elizabeth and asked, "pi-ka pi Pikachu?"

"Nuh uh, not a contest like the ones on TV!" Elizabeth giggled. "I mean a contest about being cute!"

"Chu?" Pikachu squeaked.

"Yeah, everyone can do cute stuff and be cute, and then we can pick a winner!" Elizabeth added.

Lycanroc's eyes lit up. The wolf Pokémon was _all_ about his looks, particularly his fur, so the thought of a contest based heavily on that was right up the rock type's alley. He barked excitedly and began to rapidly wag his tail, showing that he thought Elizabeth's idea was an excellent one.

Elizabeth giggled at Lycanroc's reaction. "Is everyone else excited, too?"

The other Pokémon, although still a little confused, voiced their agreement. They didn't want to disappoint Elizabeth, after all.

"Okay, let's go!" Elizabeth cheered. "Since Rocky was really super excited, he goes first!"

Lycanroc barked again. Elizabeth still had trouble pronouncing his full name, and chose to call him "Rocky" instead, much like her grandmother (though Delia used it simply out of preference).

The rock type stood up on his hind legs, holding his paws up and sticking his tongue out of the side of his mouth. The other Pokémon were not so impressed by Lycanroc's little display, but Elizabeth was positively delighted, laughing wildly and clapping her hands together.

"So cute!" She squealed.

Bayleef huffed. She was not a Pokémon who would stand for being overshadowed, especially by what she considered to be a pompous hairball. The leaf Pokémon pushed past him, shooing the flustered rock type by whacking him with the leaf on her head. Elizabeth seemed a bit taken off guard, but wasn't upset and didn't protest. Smiling boldly, Bayleef began to swing her head from side-to-side, the leaf atop her head swaying with it.

"Bay…bay…bay! Bay!"

The confused look on Elizabeth's face quickly gave way to delight. "Pretty singing, Leefy!"

The grass type proudly puffed her chest out. "Bay!"

"Who wants to go next?" Elizabeth squeaked.

Pikachu and Infernape exchanged looks. Heracross and Corphish were busy goofing around and hadn't even heard Elizabeth's question. Infernape was very hesitant to go, however, which Pikachu knew, so he decided to take one for the team and take his turn in Elizabeth's little game.

The little mouse hopped forward, pulling his face into one of his famed Pokémon impressions, this one of Bulbasaur. Elizabeth began to laugh immediately, and most of the other Pokémon were amused as well. In fact, Corphish and Heracross seemed to get a little _too_ into the act, as they suddenly wanted to compete in Elizabeth's contest as well.

The water and bug type began trying to push one another out of the way as they raced to park themselves between Pikachu and Elizabeth. Corphish quickly became angry and began shouting at Heracross, waving a claw at him.

"Hey!" Elizabeth cried. "Bad Phishy! No fighting!"

Corphish, however, paid Elizabeth's warning no mind. Instead, he opened up his claw to fire a bubble beam at Heracross, who was quick to jump out of the way. The attack instead collided with an oblivious Lycanroc, drenching his white and orange fur as well as the grass and dirt beneath him. Some of the mud and blades of grass wound up in his now messy fur, leaving the rock type looking like a wet, dirty mop.

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu gasped, his ears shooting up in alarm. He knew what happened when Lycanroc's fur got dirty…

The stunned wolf Pokémon glanced down and realized that he was, in fact, one giant mess. He howled in alarm, looking up in shock and setting his eyes on a startled Corphish. Lycanroc's eyes suddenly narrowed and turned bright red, while his snout curled up to bare his sharp, clenched teeth.

The other Pokémon began to back up in fear, while Elizabeth just watched on, completely bewildered. She'd never seen Lycanroc act like this before, and she was just frozen in place. Pikachu managed to turn his head and realized this, and instead of worrying about himself, quickly began to panic for the welfare of his trainer's young daughter.

It was at that moment that Ash was just stepping back outside after finishing off his snack. He was perfectly content and pleased with himself…until he heard all of the snarling and concerned whimpers. Glancing up, Ash's heart fell into his stomach when he realized Lycanroc was filthy and enraged…and Elizabeth was staring right into the unruly Pokémon's blood red eyes.

"Lizzie!" He hissed, bolting towards the child.

At the same time, Pikachu jumped in front of her and growled back at Lycanroc, his cheeks sparking with electricity. Elizabeth finally managed to look away from Lycanroc to lower her eyes towards Pikachu, but she was otherwise still frozen in place.

Lycanroc bent at the knees and lunged, leading Pikachu to unleash his thunderbolt attack. In the middle of it all, Ash rushed in and grabbed Elizabeth, holding the young girl against him and bracing her with his arms as he looked out towards the now-dueling Pikachu and Lycanroc.

"Quit it, Lycanroc!" Ash ordered.

The wolf Pokémon was too far gone in his rage to hear Ash, however. Pikachu's previous thunderbolt hadn't struck Lycanroc…he'd only fired it off as a warning. That hadn't done much good either, however, and Pikachu's worry was only growing.

"Pikachu, use electroball!" Ash commanded.

The electric type didn't need to be told twice. Jumping up in the air, he allowed a sphere of electricity to form at the end of his tail before firing it off at Lycanroc. It didn't strike him head on, but it did get closer than the previous warning thunderbolt, just grazing the wolf Pokémon's paw.

That finally seemed to get the rock type to settle down, at least to an extent where he was no longer totally raging. After a cautious moment, Pikachu slowly walked towards Lycanroc, murmuring an unsure, "pi-ka Pikachu?"

Lycanroc growled softly, looking away from Pikachu. It was obvious just by looking at his face he was embarrassed by what he'd just done.

Ash, meanwhile, let out a relieved sigh and glanced down at Elizabeth, who he was still holding close. "Are you okay, baby?"

"Uh huh," Elizabeth squeaked. She certainly didn't _sound_ frightened. "Daddy, why'd Rocky do that?"

Ash sighed before explaining, "Lycanroc really doesn't like it when his fur gets dirty. He's proud of how pretty it is! So when it gets really messy like that, he gets very upset."

Elizabeth thought about it for a moment before replying, "I don't like getting dirty either."

"I know you don't," Ash chuckled softly. "You like to be a tidy girl!"

"Ya," Elizabeth agreed. Then, she quickly requested, "I wanna go down."

Ash was unsure, but Elizabeth kept staring at him with her dazzling green eyes, unblinking and unafraid, and Ash knew that, just like her mother, Elizabeth was not going to take "no" for an answer. So he put her down in the grass and held his breath, not taking his eyes off of her for even a second.

Elizabeth, however, had no hesitance at all. She started to move slowly towards Lycanroc, which sent Ash into a panic. He managed to hide it, however, and just followed closely after Elizabeth, who didn't even notice his presence.

Lycanroc was still wallowing, and didn't realize Elizabeth was walking towards him until her little arms were wrapped around his neck. The wolf Pokémon huffed softly and glanced down, watching as Elizabeth rubbed her cheek against his (still dirty) fur.

"S'okay, Rocky," Elizabeth gently reassured the Pokémon. "We can make you clean! And you're still cute anyway!"

Lycanroc's ears perked. A look of calm suddenly overtook his face, surprising Ash and the other Pokémon. With a small smile, the wolf Pokémon started to lick Elizabeth's cheek, eliciting a flood of giggles from the little girl.

"Silly Rocky!" She squealed through her laughter.

Blinking, Ash knelt down next to his daughter and murmured, "That really worked."

He didn't think Elizabeth would hear him over her giggles, but she clearly did, as she spun around and beamed at her father. "I made Rocky feel better!"

"Yeah, you sure did!" Ash agreed, still sounding quite impressed.

"Can we give Rocky a bath?" Elizabeth asked.

"That's a great idea," Ash chuckled. "I'm sure you'd be much happier after that, right, Lycanroc?"

The rock type barked in agreement, much to Elizabeth's delight.

"Pika, pikachupichu," Pikachu cried.

Ash blinked before gasping. "Oh, Lizzie! You didn't get to finish your little game with the Pokémon!"

"S'okay!" Elizabeth squeaked yet again. "They're all cute! So they all win!"

All of the Pokémon, save for Pikachu, seemed thrown off by this decision. Ash, on the other hand, simply started to laugh again and ruffled his daughter's hair.

"You're just the cutest girl, aren't you?" He asked.

"Uh huh!" Elizabeth chirped. "The cutest!"

* * *

 **Truthfully, I don't like the whole "Lycanroc freaks out when his fur gets dirty" thing, but it does make a good plot point when Elizabeth is involved!**


	45. Decorating Disasters

**Misty's birthday means Misty's birthday one shot!**

 **Pretty appropriate too, since we got to see her little 3D model for the new games today. I was in work and might have squealed a bit when I saw ^^**

 **Michelle: 9 and a half years old**

 **Elizabeth: 3 and a half years old**

* * *

 **Decorating Disasters**

As soon as Elizabeth's eyes fell onto the tray of cupcakes, they began to sparkle.

"Oooh!" She squealed, gripping the side of the table where it sat. "Yummy cupcakes!"

The little girl turned her head a bit and realized there was a bowl of homemade frosting beside the tray with several small bottles of food coloring in front of it. One of them had a pink cap, which Elizabeth was quickly drawn to and picked up with her little fingers.

"Don't even think about it!"

Elizabeth squeaked and looked over her shoulder, finding her older sister standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips. "Think –bout what?"

"Dyeing that frosting pink," Michelle sighed, pointing at the bowl.

Elizabeth glanced at the food coloring in her hand, and then the frosting. "But pink is so pretty!"

"To _you_ ," Michelle replied. "Grammy and I made those cupcakes for Mommy's birthday, and her favorite color is green."

"Green's ugly," Elizabeth complained, scrunching up her nose.

"Again, to you," Michelle muttered, moving forward and plucking the food coloring from Elizabeth's hand. "Your birthday is next month, you can have pink cupcakes then."

"But how come Grammy left all the colors out?" Elizabeth asked, pointing at the other bottles of food coloring.

"They all just came out of a box," Michelle explained.

"How come Grammy didn't just buy green frosting?" Elizabeth continued.

"She says everything tastes better when we make it ourselves," Michelle recited. "And she's right!"

"Mommy just buys frosting from the store," Elizabeth noted.

"Um, yeah…"

"Why doesn't Mommy make it like Grammy?"

"I don't think she can."

"Why?"

"She says she's not as good at cooking or baking as Grammy is."

"Why?"

Michelle furrowed her brow. "I don't know. How come you're asking so many questions?"

"I like 'em!" Elizabeth giggled.

"Well, I think that's enough of them for now," Michelle sighed.

Elizabeth twisted her mouth and turned back around to look at the cupcakes again. "I wanna help!"

Michelle seemed hesitant as soon as those words left her little sister's mouth. It's not that she didn't want the girl's help, but Elizabeth wasn't always the best at listening to other people or following instructions. Michelle wanted her mother's special birthday surprise to come out _perfect,_ and that was certainly no guarantee with Elizabeth helping out.

"Please?" Elizabeth chirped, clasping her hands together as she leaned forward on her toes.

Michelle sighed and slumped her shoulder. Sometimes she hated how cute Elizabeth was…it made it pretty hard to say no to her, and the little girl knew it.

"Fine," Michelle finally relented.

"Yay!" Elizabeth cheered.

"But you have to listen to me and Grammy, okay?" Michelle ordered. "No doing your own thing or getting all creative!"

"Okay!" Elizabeth squeaked.

"Alright, Michelle, ready to start decorating those cupcakes?"

Delia had just walked into the kitchen, drying off her hands on her apron. When she realized Elizabeth was standing next to her older sister, the grandmother beamed at her youngest grandchild. "Well, look who's up from their nap!"

"Grammy, Shelly said I could help!" Elizabeth crowed.

"She did?" Delia asked. "Well that was very sweet of her!"

Elizabeth grinned and nodded her head.

"The cupcakes should certainly be cool enough by now to start putting the icing on them," Delia continued, walking over to the table. "We'll have to dye it first before we put it in the icing bag!"

"Bag?" Elizabeth repeated. "You put frosting in a bag, Grammy?"

"Yes, that's how we get it to come out in a big swirl!" Delia confirmed.

"Oooh," Elizabeth cooed. "Mommy doesn't do that!"

"I told you, I don't think she _can_ ," Michelle stressed.

"Grammy can teach Mommy!" Elizabeth cried.

Michelle raised an eyebrow and glanced over at her grandmother. "Can you?"

"I've tried…" Delia hummed awkwardly. "But it isn't easy, you know! It takes a lot of practice."

"Mommy's not pash-int," Elizabeth murmured, shaking her head.

Delia appeared confused, to which Michelle helpfully informed her, "I think she means patient."

"Oh!" Delia breathed, a blush appearing on her cheeks. "Lizzie, your mommy is very patient! Like I said, it's not an easy thing to do!"

Michelle pursed her lips before bending down to whisper to her younger sister, "I think you're probably right and Grammy's just being nice."

"Mommy gets mad easy," Elizabeth added, nodding her head.

Michelle smirked and stood back up straight. "So, green for the frosting, right?"

"Yes!" Delia confirmed, removing the bright green top from one of the bottles of food coloring. "Now, we want to make sure we use just the right amount so it comes out the right shade of green!"

"Bright green!" Elizabeth cried.

"That's what we're going for," Michelle confirmed.

Delia tilted the bottle and squeezed three small drops of liquid into the frosting. Elizabeth leaned in to get a better look, frowning when she saw the drops. "That's too dark, Grammy!"

"They look dark now, but it'll look a lot different once we start mixing it in with the frosting," Delia explained to the little girl. "It's almost like magic!"

"I wanna see!" Elizabeth gasped.

Delia giggled and handed Michelle a large spoon. "Michelle, why don't you show Elizabeth what I mean?"

"Sure!" Michelle chirped.

The older girl began to mix the frosting, folding in the drops of food coloring as she moved the spoon. Elizabeth watched intently, her eyes widening as the white frosting slowly began to turn a pretty spring green color.

"Whoa!" Elizabeth breathed. "Grammy, look!"

"See? It's cool!" Delia laughed softly. "And Michelle is doing an excellent job of mixing everything together, isn't she?"

"Uh huh," Elizabeth murmured.

After stirring for a few more seconds, Michelle tilted the bowl towards her grandmother and asked, "What do you think?"

"I think it's perfect!" Delia replied. "Are you happy with it?"

"I think so…" Michelle trailed off, taking another look inside the bowl.

"No!"

Michelle furrowed her brow and turned her head. "What do you mean no?"

"More green," Elizabeth complained, pointing at the frosting.

"Really? You don't think this is green enough?" Michelle questioned. Elizabeth shook her head. "I don't know…I think if we add more, it'll be _too_ green."

"Nuh uh!" Elizabeth argued. "More green!"

Delia hummed and took a look in the bowl herself. "I think Michelle has a point, dear. We don't want the frosting to come out too dark! Then it won't look as pretty on the cupcakes."

This didn't seem to do much to placate Elizabeth. The little girl was convinced the frosting wasn't green enough, and no one was listening to her. So she started to pout, crossing her arms as she shot her glare at her sister and grandmother.

"Grammy…" Michelle groaned.

"It's alright, you two," Delia assured the girls, wanting to keep them from starting a fight. "We have lots of other things to decorate the cupcakes with after we've iced them! You'll be able to make the cupcakes look however you'd like!"

 _This_ managed to get a big smile out of Elizabeth, but now it was Michelle's turn to look displeased. "I thought all of the cupcakes were going to look the same!"

Delia was taken off guard by the sudden shift in her granddaughters' dispositions. "Well…it's okay if they look a bit different! That just makes it more fun, right?"

Michelle frowned. "Not really…"

"How about we just put the frosting on the cupcakes first, and then we'll deal with all the other decorations?" Delia asked, picking up the frosting bag for emphasis. "There's not much we can do with plain cupcakes, after all!"

"Yay!" Elizabeth cheered. Michelle, on the other hand, was now directing her own glare directly at the younger girl.

Delia laughed nervously and moved one of the trays towards them. "Right, frosting first!"

 **XXX**

As soon as Michelle's eyes fell onto the plate of cupcakes in front of her younger sister, they nearly fell out of her head.

"Lizzie, what are you doing?!" Michelle cried.

Elizabeth was unaffected by her sister's obvious horror. She thought her cupcakes were just beautiful! The beautiful swirls of green frosting atop each cupcake were adorned by tiny candy pearls, rainbow sprinkles in the shapes of stars, edible gold glitter, a toothpick with a paper Pokémon at its tip, and drizzles and globs of pink gel.

"Dec-ating!" Elizabeth finally replied, a cheerful infliction in her voice.

"They're so-"

"Pretty!" Delia quickly interrupted her older granddaughter. Michelle shot her grandmother a look of disbelief, to which Delia replied, "Lizzie's worked very hard on her cupcakes, and she really likes them!"

"I have the prettiest ones!" Elizabeth added.

Michelle growled lowly. Elizabeth's cupcakes were incredibly sloppy, and anyone who looked at them would know that. _Her_ cupcakes, however, were perfect. She had made sure each one came out meticulously, and as identical as possible. They were neat and pretty and exactly what Michelle had wanted them to be!

Elizabeth's cupcakes were going to ruin the whole thing.

"Am I allowed to come in the kitchen yet?"

Michelle gasped, but couldn't protest before Elizabeth replied, "uh huh!"

Misty stepped into the kitchen, her calm expression evolving into one of excitement as soon as she saw the cupcakes on the table.

"Oh, is _this_ why you all kicked me out of here?" Misty asked.

"Yeah…" Michelle sighed.

"Birthday cupcakes for Mommy!" Elizabeth squealed.

"They smell amazing!" Misty breathed. "And they look even better!"

"Seriously?" Michelle deadpanned.

"Of course," Misty giggled. "Why, you don't think so?"

"No…I didn't say that…" Michelle stammered.

"Yeah, but you sounded pretty surprised," Misty snickered.

"Mommy, look!" Elizabeth cried, running over to her mother and pulling at her hand. "Look at mine!"

The little girl "dragged" her mother over to the table, pointing at the cupcakes she had decorated.

"You did those all by yourself?" Misty gasped.

"Ya!" Elizabeth confirmed.

"They're beautiful!" Misty crowed. "You did a great job, sprinkle!"

"I did, Mommy!" Elizabeth agreed. "I worked hard!"

"I can tell!" Misty giggled.

Michelle was surprised. Her mom seemed to _genuinely_ like Elizabeth's cupcakes. Then again, she supposed that was part of her job as a mom. She couldn't really tell her own daughter that her cupcakes looked silly. It was still pretty nice of her, Michelle decided.

"What about mine, Mommy?" Michelle asked, pointing at her own cupcakes.

Misty took a look at those and another big smile flashed on her face. "Yours are beautiful too, Shelly! You're both so talented! And I'm very grateful that I have two beautiful daughters who love me enough to make me a special birthday surprise like this!"

Michelle giggled and offered her mother her own grin. "Of course!"

"Would it be alright if I ate one now?" Misty asked slyly.

"Nuh uh!" Elizabeth cried. "Mommy, you can't eat cupcakes before dinner!"

"Even when they're _my_ birthday cupcakes?" Misty gasped.

"No," Elizabeth confirmed, shaking her head.

"Oh, alright," Misty sighed, though she was still smiling. "I'll wait until after dinner, then!"

"Good!" Elizabeth declared. "Me and Shelly are gonna play with Daddy and Denny now!"

Michelle blinked hard. "We are?"

Elizabeth nodded and ran forward to grab her sister's hands. "Let's go!"

Michelle raised an eyebrow, but nevertheless followed after her younger sister. Misty smirked at the two as they went, while Delia let out a relieved sigh and turned towards her daughter-in-law.

"I'm glad to see them getting along again," Delia murmured.

"Were they not?" Misty asked, tilting her head.

"It wasn't anything serious, but they were both getting a bit testy with one another," Delia explained. "I'm used to seeing Michelle argue with Aiden occasionally, but not her and Elizabeth."

"Yeah, Elizabeth is starting to realize she can use her words _and_ her little fists as sparring tools just as well as her big brother and sister," Misty snickered, using her finger to scoop up some leftover icing from the bowl and eat it. "Growing up really is a curse, though I think more so for Ash and I than it is for the kids."

"Has she started doing that often?" Delia asked timidly.

"Not _too_ often," Misty laughed. "I think she's still figuring out how exactly to take them on. But I _will_ say she's getting good at it pretty quickly. Ash is a little freaked out by it. I'm not because, well…this is basically a repeat performance of me as a kid with my sisters."

"I must admit I was a little taken off guard by it myself," Delia chuckled nervously. "But considering I'm an only child, and Ash is an only child…I'm assuming that's fair."

"Very much so," Misty agreed.

"I hope this isn't putting a damper on your birthday," Delia fretted.

"It's not, I promise!" Misty assured with a giggle. "When the kids are doing sweet things, like making me cupcakes, it's pretty easy for me to forget about any of their petty little arguments."

Delia seemed impressed by Misty's calmness. "So you're not concerned about them playing outside together?"

"No, they're with Ash," Misty refuted. "Even if they start to fight, Ash needs a bit more practice dealing with it and separating them. I'm kind of considering that my birthday gift from him."

Delia smirked. "Does he know that?"

"No," Misty replied simply. "I'm just hoping he figures it out along the way."

"Really? My son?"

"Wishful thinking, I know. But hey, maybe I'll have a birthday miracle this year!"


	46. Supermarket Madness

**I actually like grocery shopping, but I imagine most kids don't. Especially rambunctious kids like Aiden and Michelle (although Aiden more so than Michelle...)**

 **So...I came up with this!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 8 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 2 years old**

* * *

 **Supermarket Madness**

Aiden and Michelle both looked like they were on their way to be tortured.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, was quite cheerful, but that really wasn't unusual for the toddler. Her disposition was usually very cheery no matter what.

The twins couldn't understand that, especially when their parents were dragging them all to the supermarket. Well…their mother was. Their father wasn't exactly thrilled with going either, but he tended to complain a bit less since _this_ kind of shopping was at least for food, which he was actually passionate about.

"It's not so bad," Misty reasoned with the pouty twins as they walked up to the sliding glass doors, which delighted the little girl in her arms. "Maybe you two will find something new to try!"

"We always want to buy candy but you don't let us!" Aiden whined.

"That's not true," Misty calmly argued. "I don't let you buy _all of_ the candy."

"That's just as bad," Aiden muttered.

Misty sighed and sat Elizabeth in the seat of a shopping cart. "I promise it won't take long. Does that help at all?"

"No," Aiden quickly replied.

"Didn't think so," Misty puffed. "Ash, maybe you could try and find a way to keep those two entertained."

No response.

"Ash?"

Misty raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder. Ash had somehow managed to wander away from her in the span of 30 seconds, and was currently standing in front of a cookie display, mesmerized by it. Misty pulled up behind him, her brow furrowed.

"Seriously?" She breathed.

Ash whipped around, obviously startled, but that quickly gave way to a sheepish smile. "I can't help it; they look really good!"

"So I'm assuming you didn't hear anything I just said to you," Misty said, crossing her arms.

Ash hummed thoughtfully, then scratched his chin as he furrowed his brow, before shrugging and admitting, "Nope, guess not."

Pikachu, from his perch atop Ash's shoulder, rolled his eyes and jumped into the back of the cart instead, much to Elizabeth's enjoyment.

Misty groaned and rolled her eyes. "Aiden and Michelle are both _miserable_ and we haven't even stepped foot in the store yet. I was hoping you could try and put them in a good mood, considering you're not the biggest fan of the supermarket either."

"That's not true!" Ash cried. "The supermarket is great! It's filled with nothing but food."

"Yeah, but spending an afternoon here isn't exactly your first choice," Misty replied.

"Fair enough," Ash relented.

While his parents were speaking to one another, Aiden reached into his pocket and pulled out a fistful of Pokémon food, scattering it on the floor. Michelle watched with a raised eyebrow, but otherwise said nothing.

"Just keep them happy," Misty pleaded. "Or at least out of trouble."

"That I can do!" Ash assured her, throwing in a playful salute for good measure. He sauntered over to the twins, who were both still sporting miserable expressions. "Come on, guys. The supermarket isn't that bad! You can always find some really cool stuff here."

Michelle scurried up to her father's side, grabbing his hand with her own and gazing up at him. "Can we get fruit snacks?"

"Yeah, sure!" Ash replied.

"And apples?"

"Of course!"

"And candy?" Aiden chimed in, wiggling his eyebrows.

"We can get _some_ candy," Ash reasoned with his son. "Not the whole aisle, kay champ?"

Aiden didn't seem completely satisfied with that clause, but he let out a long sigh and gave in with a weary, "okay."

The two children followed their father into the store, Michelle still holding onto his hand. Elizabeth, who from her seat in the shopping cart, was tilting herself to the side to look around her mother at her father and older siblings. Ash caught sight of her and laughed, giving the toddler a small, playful wave. She unleashed a sharp, near shrieking laugh, leading Misty to smirk.

"You're so easy to entertain," Misty giggled.

"Daddy!" Elizabeth squeaked, pointing in front of her.

Misty turned her head and caught Ash waving at their young daughter. "Oh, I see. Daddy is playing with you! You like that, huh?"

"I –ove Daddy," Elizabeth commented.

"Me too," Misty agreed, her voice dripping with sweetness.

Their first stop was the produce section, filled with fruits and vegetables. Michelle was instantly drawn to the apples; easily her favorite fruit and probably one of her favorite foods period. She excitedly scanned the selection, a wide range of every color apple from red to yellow to green. Ash bent down beside his daughter, grinning at her obvious exuberance.

"See any good ones?" He asked.

"There!" Michelle quickly replied, pointing at one of the red apples. It was front and center of the whole bunch, perfectly round with flawless skin that was the color of a ruby.

"Oh yeah, it does look good!" Ash agreed. "We'll definitely get that one."

Ash stood back up to his full height just in time for Misty to hand him a plastic bag to begin collecting the apples. Aiden, meanwhile, was allowing his brown eyes to wander all over the place, and they finally settled on some intricate looking technological contraption a few feet away. Blinking, Aiden walked towards it, trying to examine it more closely. He stood on his toes, gazing up at the machine's screen which was currently blank. Finally, Aiden gave up trying to figure out what it was himself and turned his head towards his parents.

"What's this?" Aiden asked bluntly.

"It's a produce scale," Misty answered. "You use it to weigh your fruits and vegetables to see how much you'll have to pay for them!"

"Here, check this out," Ash added, walking over next to Aiden and placing the now full bag of apples on the scale. The screen suddenly jumped to life, much to Aiden's fascination, and displayed the total weight of the gathered apples. "What's it say, buddy?"

"One," Aiden squeaked.

"Yep, these apples weigh one pound!" Ash replied, taking the bag off the scale. "So now we know they'll charge us for one pound of apples."

Aiden contemplated this for a moment. "So can you weigh _anything_ on that scale?"

"Yeah!" Ash chuckled. "Fruits, vegetables, nuts…anything you want!"

Aiden's eyes lit up, and Ash puffed his chest out just a bit. Maybe he actually _could_ get Aiden and Michelle to like being at the supermarket! That was quite the accomplishment, in his opinion.

"Ash, will you help me pick out some vegetables?" Misty requested. "The kids will just tell me not to get any of them."

"Sure thing," Ash laughed, knowing she was right. "Can you two keep an eye on your little sister while we go look at the vegetables? We'll just be right over there!"

He pointed to a display a few feet away, and Aiden and Michelle both nodded their heads. As soon as his parents walked away, Aiden lifted Elizabeth out of the cart, causing her to giggle happily.

"What're you doing?" Michelle asked, folding her arms.

"Don't worry about it," Aiden replied, carrying Elizabeth right past her.

"I am!" Michelle cried, following after him.

Aiden brought the toddler right over to the produce scale he had been examining shortly beforehand. Lifting up onto the balls of his feet, Aiden sat Elizabeth on the scale, earning more delighted laughter from his little sister.

"Aiden!" Michelle gasped, her eyes widening. "You can't do that!"

"Then how come I am?" Aiden fired back.

"Cause you're bad!" Michelle snapped.

Ignoring his twin's insult, Aiden glanced up at the scale's screen. "Look! Lizzie weighs 21 pounds! Boy, that's really light! I weigh a lot more than that!"

"Yeah, cause you're older," Michelle grumbled. "Now get Lizzie off that thing!"

"Let's weigh me next!" Aiden gasped, his smile widening.

"Aiden, stop!" Michelle whined. "You're going to get us in trouble!"

"Quit worrying so much!" Aiden groaned. "You're never any fun."

" _Aiden!_ "

The boy hardly had any time to look over his shoulder before his mother swooped in and yanked Elizabeth off the produce scale.

"That isn't for weighing people!" Misty scolded.

"But it worked!" Aiden cried. "Lizzie is 21 pounds, Mom."

"Good to know," Misty sighed. "But you're not supposed to put anything on there other than food, alright?"

Aiden scowled, while Michelle leaned in close to him and whispered tauntingly, "told you you were gonna get in trouble."

"Mom, Michelle is being annoying!" Aiden practically shouted.

"Aiden, inside voice!" Misty hissed. "And Michelle, be nice to your brother."

"I didn't do anything!" Michelle cried. "I told him he was gonna get in trouble for putting Lizzie up there but he didn't listen to me!"

"Yeah, so she rubbed it in my face," Aiden grumbled.

"Michelle, that's not necessary," Misty replied. She turned towards Ash, who was just finishing placing some vegetables in the cart. "Please help me."

He looked up at her with wide eyes and a completely clueless expression. It took everything in Misty's power to hold back a yell of frustration.

"You didn't see any of that, did you?" Misty deadpanned.

"Um…no," Ash admitted.

"Aiden was using the produce scale to weigh Elizabeth," Misty groaned.

Now exasperated, Ash glanced down at Aiden. "Son, that's not for weighing people."

"Then why'd it work?" Aiden asked.

"Just because it works doesn't mean you should use it that way," Ash sighed. "Come on, let's try and stay out of trouble, okay?"

Aiden whined, but decided to follow after his father without any vocal protest. Michelle sidled up to her father's opposite side, staring up at him as she batted her eyelashes.

"Daddy, can we pick out some ice cream?" Michelle asked.

Aiden's cloudy disposition changed instantly, and he showed off a toothy grin. "Yeah, ice cream!"

"We usually wait until the end to pick it out so it's not sitting in the cart and melting," Ash reminded the two. "Nothing worse than melted ice cream!"

"But can't we just go look at them so we can decide what we want?" Michelle pleaded.

Ash groaned. He figured it was a pretty harmless request, and if it could get the two out of Misty's hair for even a few minutes, she probably wouldn't object.

"Mist, is it okay if I take Aiden and Michelle to look at the ice cream?" Ash called.

Misty tilted her head ever so slightly, Elizabeth following the motion just to copy her. "We still have the whole store to get through. You're going to pick out ice cream now?"

"No, they just want to look and decide what they want," Ash explained. "I told them we have to wait until the end to actually put it in the cart."

"Oh, then sure!" Misty chirped. "You three have fun! Lizzie and I will keep on the course. Right, sweetie?"

Elizabeth beamed and nodded her head.

With that settled, Aiden and Michelle began to clamor around their father, shouting out various flavors of ice cream they wanted.

"Hold on, we haven't even gotten there yet!" Ash cried. "We have to see what they have!"

He started to head in the direction of the freezer aisle, with the twins still nagging him. This little scene earned them a few stares, most of which wound up lingering because it was the Pokémon Master and his children. Most of the citizens of Cerulean City were used to seeing them there, but that didn't mean they didn't still stare. It could be pretty jarring to see a celebrity just walking around a supermarket, even though Ash didn't think of himself that way.

"Guys, let's try and keep it down a bit," Ash requested. "We don't want to bother anyone."

"We're not, Daddy!" Michelle chirped. "We just wanna see the ice cream!"

"I know, and we're going," Ash sighed. "I just want you two to use your inside voices, okay? It isn't nice to be screaming and running around in a store."

Fortunately, that seemed to settle Aiden and Michelle, at least for the time being. They made it to the freezer aisle without any further incident, and the twins busied themselves with pressing their faces against the glass doors to get a better look at the ice cream inside.

Ash was just relieved that they had settled down and were no longer creating a fuss. As he took a quick breather, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a wide array of frozen waffles. Turning his head, he saw from a distance all of the different flavors and his eyes widened a significant degree.

"You guys keep on looking," Ash called to the twins. "I'm just gonna head over here real quick…"

"Kay," Aiden and Michelle droned.

As Ash walked away, Michelle looked up and down the freezer and wondered aloud, "how cold do you think it is in there?"

"I dunno, probably really super cold," Aiden replied. "They've gotta keep all that ice cream in there!"

"I bet an ice type would like to live in there," Michelle noted.

Aiden thought about it for a moment before perking up. "Let's find out!"

Michelle furrowed her brow. "How? We don't have one!"

"No, but you know all about that kind of stuff!" Aiden replied. "You read about Pokémon all the time. So if _you_ went in the freezer-"

"Nuh uh!" Michelle cried.

"Why?" Aiden asked. "It's probably a lot of fun!"

"Then _you_ go in," Michelle grumbled.

"Kay!" Aiden squeaked.

Before Michelle could protest, Aiden opened up the freezer door and hopped inside, trying to close the door once he was in. She was alarmed, but he was giggling like a maniac, even as she pulled the door back open.

"Aiden, get out!" Michelle hissed. "We're gonna get in trouble!"

"You always say that," Aiden muttered.

"Cause it's always true!" Michelle cried.

"Nuh uh," Aiden refuted. "Come on, it's fun! Just try it!"

Michelle did not seem convinced. Aiden just hopped out of the freezer and held the door open for his sister, who took a step back.

"I won't close the door on ya," Aiden assured her. "But I promise, it's fun! You get to feel like an ice type Pokémon!"

Michelle was still wary, but she finally climbed up into the freezer, clutching the side as she stared back at her brother.

"Well?" Aiden asked.

"It's nice in here," Michelle finally admitted, a smile appearing on her face. "It's really cold! I bet if I was a Glaceon, I could live in here forever!"

"Want me to close the door now?" Aiden asked.

"Okay!" Michelle giggled.

Just as soon as Aiden swung the door shut, however, someone stopped it right before it could close. The boy winced and glanced up, already knowing who was responsible.

"What are you two doing now?!" Ash cried.

"We're just playing!" Aiden whined.

"You can't play inside the _freezer!_ " Ash hissed.

"But we were," Aiden commented.

Ash let out a frustrated sigh. "But you _shouldn't_ be." He reached in with his free arm and pulled Michelle out of the freezer, closing the door once she was in his grasp. "Let's just go back to Mommy and-"

He was cut off by a ruckus; a mix of frantic cries and screaming and exclamations. Ash's eyebrows shot up at all the noise, while Aiden and Michelle both tilted their heads. Before they could even process it, a Pidgey soared right above the trio, causing them all to look up.

"Whoa!" Aiden breathed.

"Uh…what just happened?" Ash muttered.

"A Pidgey got in the store!" Aiden laughed, as though he were being helpful by explaining it to his father.

"Why'd it come in here?" Michelle asked.

"I'm really not sure," Ash replied. "It seems like a wild Pokémon, and they don't normally just go into crowded, indoor places like this."

Aiden thought about it for a moment, and suddenly, his entire face lit up. "My Pokémon food! It worked!"

Ash blinked hard and whipped his head down towards his son. "What do you mean your Pokémon food?"

Michelle gasped. "Aiden had Pokémon food in his pockets, Daddy! And he threw them on the floor when we came in here!"

Ash's facial expression suddenly reflected horror. Aiden began laughing wildly, his own face still glowing. "It worked! I caught a Pokémon!"

"Aiden, you didn't catch _anything!_ " Ash howled. "All you did was got a wild Pokémon to wreak havoc in the supermarket!"

"Yeah, but if I had a poke ball I could catch it," Aiden reasoned with him.

"Why is everyone going nuts in here?"

Ash felt a violent chill go up his spine. Misty had suddenly appeared at the end of the aisle, an eyebrow raised. Elizabeth, who was still sitting in the cart, seemed blissfully unaware of the panic and was busy singing to herself as she held a package of Goldeen crackers in her hands.

"There's a Pidgey in the store!" Aiden announced, leading Ash to smack a hand over his face.

"A Pidgey?" Misty repeated, sounding incredulous.

"It flew right over us, Mom!" Aiden continued excitedly.

"How exactly does a Pidgey get into a supermarket?" Misty wondered aloud. "I mean, I know through the front door, but…why? They don't like to be confined. That poor thing must be terrified…which is _probably_ why everyone in this store is terrified."

"Pokémon sure can be weird sometimes!" Ash laughed nervously, hoping his wife would stop thinking so much.

"Chu!" Pikachu protested from the back of the cart.

"Hey, I never said _you_ were," Ash defended himself.

"This little shopping trip just keeps getting more and more insane," Misty sighed. "I think we'd better hurry up and finish so we can get out of here."

"Yes!" Aiden and Michelle cheered simultaneously, much to their mother's frustration.

"At least they're finally happy," she breathed, moving on with the cart in her hands.

Ash whined and looked down at Aiden again, who was still sporting a massive, goofy grin. "Not a word to your mother about that Pokémon food, understood?"

"Yeah, sure!" Aiden assured him. "As long as I get out of here soon, I won't say a thing!"


	47. Birthday Runaway

**August 5 is Elizabeth's birthday! That, of course, means the usual birthday one shot. I thought this was a fun idea, so went with this one for this year's!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 10 and a half years old**

 **Elizabeth: 5 years old**

* * *

 **Birthday Runaway**

" _What kind of cake does my sweet little girl want for her birthday?"_

" _Hey Lizzie, do you want a fun theme for your birthday party?"_

" _Is there a special present you'd like for your birthday?"_

Elizabeth had to admit it wasn't _so_ bad to be the only kid in the house. Sure, she missed her older brother and sister while they were out on their journeys, but Elizabeth would be lying if she said she didn't enjoy having her mother and father all to herself. Especially now, with her birthday coming up. It was her first birthday without her siblings at home, and everyone seemed to be fussing over her even more than usual. Birthdays were already a pretty big deal in the family, but this one was being particularly hyped up. It was partly due to the fact that Elizabeth's parents worried about her no longer having her big siblings around all the time, and partly because they were used to catering to three children at a time and were suddenly down to just one.

As soon as her father squeezed through the front door with a bunch of balloons, Elizabeth squealed excitedly and flew off the couch, running over to him.

"Wow!" She marveled, jumping up to try and grab one of the light pink latex balloons. "That's a whole lot of balloons!"

Ash chuckled and poked his head through the impressive bouquet. "Daddy might have gone a little crazy."

Pikachu's head popped up just above Ash's, a perturbed look on his fuzzy yellow face. "Ka-chu?"

"It's okay!" Elizabeth assured him, throwing her arms up. "I _love_ them!"

"I'm glad!" Ash laughed, walking further into the living room and finally releasing the collection of balloons. There were more than Elizabeth could count: rubber ones that were white, light pink, bright pink, and clear with pink dots printed on them, shiny pink ones in the shapes of hearts, and three big ones with the likeness of the mythical horned Ponyta with a sparkly pink mane and tail that the young girl was so fond of. "Which one's your favorite?"

"The unicorn!" Elizabeth cried, pointing at the three big balloons.

"Oh, you knew that right away!" Ash crowed. "I thought you'd like those the most."

"Uh huh!" Elizabeth confirmed. "But I really like them all, Daddy! They're so pink!"

"I wouldn't think of getting my little pumpkin any other color," Ash chuckled.

"You think pink is pretty too, right, Daddy?" Elizabeth squeaked.

"If you like it, I like it," Ash chuckled, crossing his arms.

Elizabeth giggled and clapped her hands together. "So can I put pink bows in your hair for my party?"

Ash's face quickly turned red. "Um…we'll see! But I think you should be getting _dressed_ for your party first."

Elizabeth glanced down at the pajamas she was still in; a pink t-shirt and navy blue pants printed with fairy ballerinas. "Oh yeah."

Ash smirked. His daughter's squeaky little voice was just too cute, especially now that she spoke in full sentences and sounded quite grown much of the time, except for that sweet voice of hers.

"I think Mommy left your new dress upstairs in your room for you," Ash continued. "Why don't we go put it on?"

"No!" Elizabeth cried, much to her father's surprise. "I'll do it by myself!"

Ash's smile returned as he chuckled. "Guess I should've seen that coming."

"I wanna surprise you!" Elizabeth giggled, jumping up and down. "So no peeking, Daddy! Stay down here!"

"Okay, okay, I won't peek!" Ash assured his daughter.

Elizabeth bounded up the stairs, running right past her surprised mother who was on her way down. "She's certainly in a rush…"

"She's going to put on her party dress," Ash explained. "I offered to help, but she wanted to surprise me."

"That's so cute," Misty giggled, continuing down the stairs. As soon as she saw the collection of balloons in the living room, she stopped in her tracks and blinked. "Uh…little overboard on the balloons, no?"

"Maybe…" Ash drawled, glancing up at the ceiling himself. "But it was worth it! Elizabeth went _nuts_ over them."

"I'm starting to think this whole birthday has gone off the deep end," Misty admitted, twisting her mouth. "I mean, it's not that I don't want to give Elizabeth an amazing birthday! She's my baby, and she deserves it. But…we have gotten a little crazy."

"Can you blame us?" Ash asked rhetorically. "We went from dealing with three kids to one. That's a pretty big difference."

"I understand that, but does it really make sense that we took it all out on our daughter's birthday party?" Misty sighed. "That bouncy castle we rented is-"

"Awesome," Ash finished her sentence, his eyes sparkling.

Misty smirked at her husband. "You know it's for the _children_ , correct?"

"Just because it's _meant_ for them doesn't mean it's _only_ for them," Ash teased.

"You _are_ another kid, you know that?" Misty asked, though she still had that amused look on her face.

"I've been called worse," Ash conceded.

Misty playfully rolled her eyes and walked deeper into the living room. "You used to _freak out_ when I would call you a kid! I kind of miss it."

"Only when you called me a _little_ kid," Ash corrected. "I'm not about to deny that I have a very endearing, childlike quality to my personality!"

Misty just hummed as she gazed out the window. Ash quickly realized she no longer seemed to be listening to him and tilted his head. "What's up?"

"I know it sounds silly, but I kind of keep hoping Aiden and Michelle will just magically appear," Misty murmured, not bothering to look away from the window.

Ash remained silent for a moment before replying, "It's not silly. I do the same thing."

Misty finally turned her head and smiled sympathetically at her husband. "Well, I can't waste my time wishing away. We've got to start getting ready for Lizzie's birthday party!"

"Tada!"

Elizabeth had suddenly reappeared at the foot of the stairs, now wearing a pale pink dress with rhinestones and a bow at her waist and a tulle skirt covered in glittery stars.

"Well, don't you look beautiful!" Ash gushed, kneeling down to be at eye level with his young daughter.

"Thank you!" Elizabeth chirped. "I love this dress!"

"I do too," Misty agreed with a light giggle. "It looks wonderful on you, Lizzie!"

"I want to wear this too, Mommy, but I can't get it on," Elizabeth continued, holding out a pink bow with a silver glitter star tacked in the middle.

Misty opened her mouth, but was cut off by the doorbell ringing. Letting out a breath, Misty looked over her shoulder towards the door.

"I'll get it," Ash replied, standing up straight. "You take care of Elizabeth's hair."

Misty smiled appreciatively at her husband. "Thank you!"

He returned her grin before approaching the door and pulling it open. As soon as he did, his eyes lit up and he let out a strong chuckle. "Hey, Brock!"

"Brock!" Elizabeth parroted, trying to squirm around her mother. Misty was quick, however, to grab the girl's shoulders and keep her in place.

"Hold still," Misty instructed. "You wanted your bow in. As soon as I'm done, you can go see Brock."

Elizabeth frowned, but squeaked out an understanding, "okay."

"Hope I'm not too early," Brock said, entering the house by Ash's wordless invitation. "I wanted to make sure I was able to give Elizabeth her present before the party started!"

He held up a sparkly pink gift bag for emphasis. The second Misty got Elizabeth's bow in her hair, the little girl charged towards her godfather, jumping up and down for the present.

"I want it! I want it!" Elizabeth chanted.

"Elizabeth, you haven't even said hello yet!" Misty scolded. "Couldn't you at least do that before begging for your gift?"

"Hi, Brock!" Elizabeth greeted almost breathlessly. "Can I have my present?!"

Misty smacked a hand against her face while Brock started to laugh. "Come on, Misty, she did what you asked!"

"Hardly," Misty groaned.

"Of course you can have your present," Brock assured the young girl, bending down to offer her the gift. "It _is_ your birthday after all, right?"

"Uh huh!" Elizabeth confirmed, happily accepting the bag.

"And how old are you now?" Brock asked.

"Five!" Elizabeth replied, fanning her fingers out. "That's a whole hand!"

"You're right, it is!" Brock playfully gasped, watching as Elizabeth rifled through the tissue paper in the gift bag. "This is a very big birthday."

Elizabeth finally managed to pull the actual gift out of the bag, and gasped as soon as she saw it. It was a small, faux leather bag shaped like a unicorn, with a gold zipper going around it and a long gold chain attached to the top of the creature's head and the bottom of the neck.

"It's a little purse shaped like a unicorn," Brock explained. "I know how much you love them, and when your daddy told me that was the theme of your birthday party, I knew this would be the perfect present!"

Elizabeth squealed and hugged the purse against her chest. "I love it!" Spinning around to face her parents, Elizabeth thrust the bag towards them and exclaimed, "Look at her hair! It's all pink glitter!"

"Yeah, that sure is pretty!" Ash chuckled. "What do you say to Brock?"

"Thank you!" Elizabeth cried, jumping at the Pokémon doctor to give him a big hug.

"Oh, you are most welcome!" Brock laughed, grabbing the girl and tossing her up a short distance in the air. "I'm so glad you love it!"

Elizabeth smirked at the man and wrapped her arms around his neck. "It's my most favorite present ever!"

"Ever?" Brock gasped. "Whoa, that's some compliment!"

Misty cleared her throat to gain Brock's attention, and then mused, "I feel like that adorable little purse isn't the _only_ thing you brought with you today."

"Who, me?" Brock teased. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Right," Misty drawled. "So if I go out to your car right now, I'm not going to find about ten trays of food?"

Ash's eyes widened. "Brock, you brought food?!"

"Maybe, I-"

Ash started to laugh and rushed past Brock, right out the front door. Elizabeth giggled wildly at this, while Brock and Misty just exchanged looks.

"I didn't even get to finish that sentence," Brock noted.

"Please, we all know you brought food," Misty scoffed.

"If it makes you feel better, I coordinated with Delia," Brock tried.

"No," Misty quickly replied, her smirk widening. "That just makes the whole thing so much sadder."

 **XXX**

It wasn't long before Elizabeth's birthday party was in full swing. The backyard of the Ketchum's Cerulean home had been transformed into a glittery, pink, unicorn wonderland, the mass of balloons Ash had purchased accented with streamers, banners, and other decorations. A large, pastel hued bouncy castle was positioned right in the middle of the yard, and a unicorn shaped piñata hung from a nearby tree. A long table covered in various foods cooked by both Delia and Brock sat by the back door.

Ash and Misty busied themselves with entertaining the adults, which included Brock, Delia, Misty's parents, sisters and their husbands, and the parents of Elizabeth's friends. The little girl was very happy to play and hang out with her friends, but she would occasionally wander off to the adults in order to show or tell them something.

At one point, Elizabeth had decided she wanted to spend time with Delia. Her grandmother certainly wasn't opposed to that, and had sat the little girl down on her lap while talking to her.

"Are you having fun with all of your friends?" Delia asked sweetly, straightening out the little girl's bow which had gone somewhat crooked after a romp in the bouncy castle.

"Uh huh!" Elizabeth squeaked.

"They all seem very nice," Delia giggled, lowering her hands once she was satisfied with the bow's placement. "Do you take dance with them?"

"Some of 'em," Elizabeth replied, shrugging her shoulders. "There are other kids that I play with in the park, or the ones whose mommies and daddies are Mommy's friends so we play together!"

"How wonderful!" Delia breathed, her smile widening. Like her father had been at this age, Elizabeth was very talkative, and it greatly amused Delia. "You're lucky to have so many friends, Lizzie."

"Hey, guys!"

Delia looked up from Elizabeth and gasped. Before Elizabeth could even ask what was going on, her grandmother had picked her up and placed her on the ground, getting to het feet and walking away.

"Hey, Grammy!" Elizabeth cried, trying to follow after her. She was blocked, however, by a sea of adults, who had suddenly gathered and packed tightly together. The little girl jumped up and down, trying to see around them, but that didn't do her any good. Desperate, Elizabeth started to weave between their legs, using her small size to her advantage as she squeezed through the crowd. The little girl finally made it to the front, where she found her grandmother and parents standing in front of…

"Aiden? Michelle?"

The girl's older siblings turned towards her and smiled.

"Hey, shrimp!" Aiden greeted, giving a small wave. "Happy birthday!"

"How come you're home?" Elizabeth asked, blinking her eyes. She wasn't unhappy…just surprised.

"We thought it'd be nice to surprise you for your birthday," Michelle explained, watching as Pichu jumped off her shoulder and into Elizabeth's arms. "We would've been home sooner, but _someone_ got us lost."

She directed a pointed glare towards Aiden, whose face quickly turned red. "Hey, it wasn't my fault! You're just stubborn!"

"That's real funny coming from you," Michelle quipped. "We would've made it here _three hours ago_ if you had just admitted we took a wrong turn!"

"Come on, you two just got home and you're already going to fight in front of everyone?" Misty complained.

"Sorry," they apologized simultaneously.

"You guys have to tell us about everything you've been up to!" Ash piped up.

"Yes, we'd love to hear about all of your adventures!" Delia agreed.

Frowning, Elizabeth walked up to her father and tugged at his pants. "Daddy, can we-"

"Just a sec, Lizzie," Ash interrupted before beaming at his two older children. "Have you two caught any new Pokémon since the last time we saw you?"

"Yeah, sure did!" Aiden replied.

Elizabeth furrowed her brow. "But Daddy, I want to-"

"Awesome! Why don't you show everyone?"

"Okay!"

Growling, Elizabeth instead walked over to her mother and attached herself to the woman's leg. "Mommy?"

Misty glanced down at Elizabeth and smiled, reaching down to toy with the girl's bangs. "You want to see Aiden and Michelle's Pokémon too?"

"I guess so, but-"

"I hope at least one of them is a water type," Misty mused aloud, clasping her hands together.

"Mommy…" Elizabeth whined, taking a step back.

"You'll see them in just a minute, Lizzie," Misty gently reminded her daughter, thinking the child was just growing impatient.

Elizabeth huffed. That wasn't what she meant! Not at all! In fact, she wasn't even trying to ask about her siblings' Pokémon! Anger building up inside of her, Elizabeth squeezed Pichu a bit more tightly, causing the baby mouse to look up at the child in concern. "Pi-chu?"

Relaxing, Elizabeth decided to try with one more person. Scurrying over to Delia, Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by a delighted gasp from the older woman.

"Oh, what a beautiful Pokémon!"

"Thanks!" Michelle giggled. "I brush its fur every single day, just like Brock taught me! That's why it's so shiny and neat."

"Ah, so I taught you well!" Brock boasted.

"I'd sure say so!" Michelle agreed.

Scowling, Elizabeth stormed off in the direction of the house, Pichu still in her arms. Reaching the back door, Elizabeth pushed it open to slip inside, violently slamming the sliding door behind her.

"Pi!" Pichu gasped.

"It's not fair!"

Pichu squeaked and looked up at Elizabeth again. This time, the girl looked furious, her eyes narrowed and cheeks burning red.

"Everyone's ignoring me all because Aiden and Michelle came home," Elizabeth grumbled. "Mommy and Daddy and Grammy won't even listen to me!"

"Chu…" Pichu murmured.

"I'm happy they're here, but I don't like it when no one listens to me," Elizabeth continued, the angry look on her face giving way to one of sadness. "-specially on my birthday."

"Pi pi-chu."

Slowly, Elizabeth raised her eyes towards the foyer. Without another word, she marched through the kitchen, into the foyer, and stopped in the living room. Pichu finally jumped out of the little girl's arms and instead situated herself by the child's feet, following after her once Elizabeth started walking again. The child headed straight for the sparkly pink gift bag that Brock had brought her, reaching in and pulling out the mini unicorn purse. Clutching the gold chain, she slipped it over her shoulders so it settled across her body, the bag resting on her hip.

"Pi…" Pichu squeaked warily.

"Don't worry, Pichu," Elizabeth softly informed the baby mouse as she unzipped the bag. "I'll be safe."

Pichu didn't seem convinced. She followed Elizabeth again as the girl shuffled back into the kitchen, grabbing a handful of extra candy that had been left inside and stuffing it into her purse. She then walked back to the foyer and went up on her tippy toes to reach the doorknob, which she quickly unlocked. With that complete, she opened the front door and walked right outside, closing the door behind her and leaving Pichu there.

It took all of about five seconds for the little mouse to start panicking. She ran towards the backdoor, desperately pushing at it with her paws. It began to slide open very slowly, until it was just barely cracked open. Pichu squeezed herself between the door and the wall, finally managing to open it enough that she tumbled back out into the yard. Shaking her head, the baby mouse got back to her paws and ran towards the other humans. Ash was the first one she saw who she recognized, so she ran to him first and began pulling at his pants with all of the strength she had.

"Pi! Pichu!" She cried as she tugged.

It wasn't doing much to catch his attention. He was still busy fawning over the twins' Pokémon. On his shoulder, however, sat Pikachu, whose ears began to twitch. His sensitive hearing enabled him to hear Pichu's flustered squeaks, even over all of the other noise. Looking down, he saw the baby mouse trying valiantly to get Ash's attention. Confused, Pikachu jumped down and stood next to his pre-evolved form, poking the small electric type with his tail.

"Pi, pi-ka?" Pikachu asked.

The baby mouse spun around, startling Pikachu. But Pichu didn't notice, and continued with her shrieking as she waved her front paws around.

"Ka?" Pikachu muttered, raising an eyebrow as he tilted his head.

"Pi-chu!" Pichu hissed. "Pi pichu!"

Finally understanding the flustered mouse, Pikachu's beady black eyes widened. Grasping the severity of the situation, Pikachu climbed back up onto his trainer's shoulder and began swatting at him.

"Pikapi, Pikachu-pi!" He cried.

"Hold on, Pikachu," Ash dismissed his partner, obviously distracted.

"Pi-ka! Pikachu, pika pikapi pikachu!" The electric type continued frantically.

"Just give me a sec, kay buddy?" Ash sighed.

Having had enough, Pikachu built up his electricity and shocked his unsuspecting trainer, who quickly fell to the ground a smoky mess after crying out in a mixture of pain and surprise. That shock, followed by Ash's screaming and the subsequent sizzling of his hair and clothes, managed to catch the attention of Delia, Misty, Aiden, and Michelle as well.

"Dad, are you okay?" Michelle gasped.

Ash groaned and sat up, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, I'm fine." He turned towards Pikachu and narrowed his eyes. "What was that for?! I told you to give me a second!"

"Pikapichu," Pikachu growled, unfazed by his trainer's annoyance. "Pi pika-chu!"

"What do you mean Elizabeth walked out of the house?" Ash muttered, though his face fell.

"Pichu pika pikapichu pika pi-ka pika-chu," Pikachu continued, pointing towards a nodding Pichu.

"Wh-what?" Misty stammered, watching as Ash got back to his feet. "Why would Elizabeth just leave the house?!"

"I don't know," Ash sighed. "Pichu, can you show us where Elizabeth went?"

Pichu nodded again and started to run around the house, towards the front yard. Ash and Misty followed closely behind, while Aiden and Michelle trailed after them. When they got to the front of the house, Elizabeth was nowhere to be seen.

"Pi…" Pichu whined, looking over at the humans who had followed her.

"It's alright, Pichu," Michelle assured her partner, walking over to pick up the baby mouse. "This is a good start!"

Lifting his nose, Pikachu began to sniff the air, and seemed to quickly get a scent. "Pikapichu!"

"You smell her?" Ash asked.

"Pi," Pikachu confirmed, flying off of Ash's shoulder and running straight ahead. He ran all the way down the street, reaching the corner where a large oak tree stood. Stopping by the tree, Pikachu slowly circled the trunk before reaching the back and perking up. "Pikapichu!"

Ash and Misty gasped and rounded the tree just like Pikachu had. Elizabeth was sitting against the trunk, an open chocolate bar in her hands with some of the candy covering her mouth.

"Elizabeth Dilynne Ketchum!" Misty scolded, though there was also obvious relief in her voice. "What do you think you're doing leaving the house without telling anyone?!"

Elizabeth suddenly appeared very sheepish, but she admitted, "cause I was running away."

Aiden glanced over at his twin sister and muttered, "This is as far as she got? That's weak."

"Seriously?" Michelle sighed, narrowing her eyes at him.

Both Ash and Misty's faces softened. Sighing sadly, Ash asked, "why were you trying to run away?"

"Because as soon as Aiden and Michelle came home, everyone ignored me," Elizabeth grumbled. "I tried asking you guys a question, and you wouldn't listen! Everyone only cared about them coming back."

Misty frowned. "Sweetheart, we didn't mean to do that. I'm sorry you felt ignored. We were just so excited to see Aiden and Michelle; none of us were expecting it! But that doesn't make what we did right."

"We know you're used to receiving all of our attention since Aiden and Michelle aren't really home anymore," Ash added. "I guess we just got a little overwhelmed and didn't realize we weren't listening to you."

Frowning, Michelle stepped closer to the tree and said to her younger sister, "Aiden and I didn't mean to mess up your birthday party, Lizzie. We're sorry."

"Yeah, we probably should've said something before we just showed up," Aiden agreed.

"No!" Elizabeth cried, jumping to her feet. "I'm really happy! I wanted you at my party! I was just kinda jealous…everyone was around you and I felt left out." Turning towards her parents, Elizabeth added, "that's what I was trying to ask! I wanted to get closer to Aiden and Michelle."

"Ooh," Ash breathed, his eyes widening. "That explains it!"

Misty smiled sympathetically at her daughter and picked the young girl up in her arms. "We will listen better next time, Elizabeth. We all promise!"

Elizabeth smiled at her mother. "Okay! Can we go back to my party now?"

"Right, your party," Misty sighed, laughing nervously afterwards. It didn't take much for Elizabeth to forgive them. "We all kind of just ran out of there, didn't we?"

"It's okay," Elizabeth squeaked. "I liked being alone with you guys for a bit! I love you."

Ash smirked and ruffled the girl's hair. "We all love you too, Lizzie."


	48. Trainers' Day

**This is one that I've been working one for a very long time. It's actually a request I get a lot, and it was an idea I always loved, but I wanted it to come out just right. Because of this, it also ended up pretty long...but I always prefer a longer story! More to read, in my view, is always a good thing.**

 **So, for everyone who has ever requested more siblings only chapters, or getting to see Aiden and Michelle interact with Elizabeth at school...this one's for you!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 12 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 6 and a half years old**

* * *

 **Trainers' Day**

"Aren't you guys so excited for Trainers' Day?"

"Uh, yeah! It's only like the best day of the whole entire year!"

"Um, you say that about a lot of stuff, David."

Hailie's ice blue eyes shifted between her three friends, confusion obvious in her dazzling orbs.

"What about you, Hailie?"

The young girl squeaked and set her focus on Elizabeth, the clear leader of the group.

"Well…I'm not really sure what that is," Hailie admitted.

Elizabeth's jaw dropped. "What?!"

"You know I'm new here," Hailie replied softly.

"Yeah, but…I thought you went to training school before you came here!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"I did, but we didn't have anything called Trainers' Day," Hailie continued. "What is it?"

Elizabeth opened her mouth to respond, but David cut her off. "It's so cool! We get to bring a trainer that we know to school, and they get to spend the whole day with us!"

Elizabeth scowled at the boy and yanked his sleeve, causing him to whine. "David's right. But there's more to it than just that! We introduce them to the class, show them the kind of work we do, and-"

"The best part of it is the big battle tournament at the end of the day!" David crowed, once again cutting off a visibly annoyed Elizabeth. "All the trainers that come to school get to battle one another, and whoever wins becomes the Trainers' Day champion!"

"Oh, that does sound fun!" Hailie giggled.

"Who do you think you're gonna bring, Hailie?" Maria, the quietest of the group, asked.

"Well, my nanny Lucy used to be a Pokémon trainer, and she's a lot of fun!" Hailie chirped. "So…I think I'll ask her!"

"That's a great idea!" Elizabeth complimented.

"Thanks!" Hailie giggled. "What about you, Maria?"

"My cousin," Maria answered. "She's a Pokémon groomer, and she's also really good at battling!"

"Ooh, a groomer!" Elizabeth marveled. "I bet all of her Pokémon have such pretty fur!"

"They do!" Maria giggled.

"That's great you guys, but none of _your_ trainers will be able to beat my big brother," David bragged, proudly puffing his chest out.

"Which one?" Elizabeth asked smartly, folding her arms.

"Josh," David replied easily. "Tyler is a great trainer too, but he's busy with the Battle Frontier right now."

At this, Elizabeth scoffed. "Please, _my_ brother or sister could beat _your_ brother any day!"

David raised an eyebrow. "Which one are you bringing?"

"Both."

Now it was _David's_ turn to be incensed. "What?! You can't bring both!"

"Course I can," Elizabeth refuted, waving a hand at him. "I love both of them, and I don't wanna pick!"

"That's really nice, Lizzie!" Hailie giggled.

"I think so too!" Elizabeth chirped, smiling back at her friend.

 **XXX**

"Hello everyone! Welcome to Trainers' Day here at the Pokémon Trainer's Academy!" Miss Holly announced to the classroom full of students and their guests. "My name is Miss Holly, and I'm the 1st grade teacher here at PTA. As I'm sure all of our students have told you, Trainers' Day is a very big deal here! We have lots of exciting activities planned, but first we'll start by having our students introduce you all! David, why don't you start us off?"

The young brunet jumped up from his seat and headed to the front of the classroom, an older boy trailing behind him. He looked quite similar to David, with the same colored eyes and brown hair that was just a few shades lighter than David's.

"This is my brother, Josh!" David began, motioning towards the older boy. "He just graduated from PTA last year, and now he's a trainer! Our oldest brother Tyler also went to school here and is a trainer. I think they're both really cool because they always tell me about what they're doing and show me which Pokémon they've caught! Josh's goal right now is to beat all the gyms in Kanto and enter the Indigo League!"

Everyone clapped as David and Josh headed back for their seats. A few more students introduced their guests before it was Maria's turn. She was accompanied by a young woman with deep purple hair that stretched down her back and violet eyes.

"This is my cousin," Maria began timidly. "Her name's Belinda, and she's a Pokémon groomer. She started off as a trainer, but then she realized she really likes making Pokémon look their best! She did lots of years of training under other groomers, and now she has her own salon in Vermilion City! Belinda shows me how to take care of Pokémon and make them look healthy and beautiful. She's really smart!"

After another round of student introductions, it was Hailie's turn to introduce her guest. She flitted up to face everyone, standing next to a pretty girl with chin-length blonde hair and olive green eyes.

"Meet Lucy!" Hailie chirped. "She's my nanny, and she used to be a coordinator! Lucy's won lots of ribbons, and she even was runner-up for Top Coordinator once! She's always showing me different appeals and cool performance stuff, and I have so much fun with her!"

Right after Hailie, it was Elizabeth's turn, and the little girl was more than raring to go. She ambled to the front of the room, dragging Aiden and Michelle along by the hands. The young girl settled herself in front of her older siblings and cleared her throat before beaming at her classmates.

"This is my big brother Aiden, and my big sister Michelle," Elizabeth began, motioning towards the two. "They're both 12, because they're twins! I don't think my Mommy and Daddy wanted two babies at once, but it must've worked out okay because they kept them both!"

" _Elizabeth!_ " Aiden and Michelle shrieked together.

"Oh yeah, they do that a lot!" Elizabeth giggled. "They always say stuff at the same time. And they can kinda read each other's minds or something like that, but I don't really get that one."

"And I'm glad that you don't," Aiden grumbled.

"Shh, it's my turn to talk!" Elizabeth cried, whipping around to glare at her brother. He furrowed his brow and pulled back, and that seemed to be enough to satisfy Elizabeth, as she turned her head back towards her classmates and smiled at them. "Anyway, Aiden battles gyms, and Michelle is a coordinator! They've both got lots of Pokémon, and also lots of badges and ribbons! I'm really proud of them."

As the older trainers in the room awed, Michelle smirked and lightly elbowed her brother. "I would say she redeemed herself there."

Aiden agreed, but he didn't necessarily want Michelle to know that. "Whatever, she's still a pain in the butt," Aiden remarked, although the smile on his face was quite telling.

Once all of the young students had finished introducing their trainers, it was time for the first activity of the day: a trivia game about Pokémon.

"This is gonna be easy!" Aiden boasted as he and Michelle took their seats by Elizabeth's desk.

"Don't get too confident," Michelle warned. "You have no idea what kind of questions the teacher's going to ask."

"Michelle, come on, this is a _first grade class_ ," Aiden stressed. "How hard could the questions possibly be?"

Miss Holly, the class' teacher, was now standing at the front of the room, pressing a button on a remote to project an image on the board: that of a Charmander.

"This is one of the three starter Pokémon offered to beginning trainers in the Kanto region," Miss Holly began. "In addition to Charmander, which two-"

Aiden smacked the buzzer that sat on Elizabeth's desk, alarming both of his sisters. "I've got this one! The answer is Bulbasaur and Squirtle!"

Miss Holly offered Aiden a lopsided smile. "I'm sorry, but that's not correct!"

"What?!" Aiden cried. "How is that not it? You were asking which two other Pokémon are given to starting trainers!"

"I actually didn't get to finish the question," Miss Holly replied. "The _rest_ of the question was which two Pokémon make up the rest of this evolutionary line?"

The sound of another buzzer went off, and when Elizabeth turned her head, she realized that it was Josh, David's older brother.

"Charmeleon and Charizard!" Josh answered.

"Correct!" Miss Holly crowed.

Aiden grumbled and sank down in his seat with his arms crossed, while Michelle smirked at him. "See why it would be a good thing for you to learn some patience?"

"Next question," Miss Holly announced, changing the image on the screen.

"Aiden, keep your hands to yourself until she asks the _whole question_ ," Michelle quipped.

Aiden scowled at his twin. "Shut up."

 **XXX**

After the trivia contest (which was won by Josh and left Aiden feeling quite bitter) came a craft project that the accompanying trainers would be helping the young students with.

"Aiden, don't mess it up this time," Elizabeth whined after Miss Holly had left the supplies on her desk.

"I didn't mess anything up!" Aiden argued. "That whole quiz thing was really stupid and totally rigged!"

"No it wasn't," Elizabeth replied, scrunching up her nose.

Michelle sighed and shifted her eyes towards her sister. "It's no use, Lizzie. He's too stubborn to admit he messed it up."

Aiden scowled and was about to snap back, but shut his mouth once Miss Holly began to give the instructions for the project.

"Now, each group will be responsible for creating a Pokémon of their choice using the construction paper, markers, glue and scissors you were given," Miss Holly instructed. "Once everyone has finished creating their Pokémon, each group will take turns giving clues about their Pokémon while the other groups guess which Pokémon it is that they've created! Groups who guess the Pokémon correctly will earn a point. If no one is able to correctly guess the Pokémon, however, the group presenting it will earn a point!"

Aiden grinned and turned his attention back onto his sisters. "I've got the best idea! Let's make ours Squirtle!"

"What? No way!" Michelle cried.

"Why not?" Aiden questioned, his previously exuberant smile replaced with a frown.

" _Everyone_ will be able to guess Squirtle," Michelle replied. "We have to pick a Pokémon that will be harder for people to think of!"

"Guess you're right," Aiden grumbled, unhappy to admit it.

Elizabeth smacked her hands against her desk, beaming up at her older siblings. "I know! We can make Teddiursa!"

Michelle hummed as she held her chin in her hands. "That's not a bad idea…"

Before Aiden could chime in, Elizabeth grabbed a piece of brown construction paper and began cutting into it. "Elizabeth, what are you doing?!"

"Making Teddiursa," Elizabeth replied, not bothering to look up from the paper in her hands. "Michelle said it was a good idea!"

"Technically she said _not bad_ …" Aiden grumbled. "I think I have a few better ideas than Teddiursa."

"Aiden, let's just make a Teddiursa," Michelle sighed. "We can't be in charge of _everything_ Lizzie does."

"Technically we can, we're the older siblings," Aiden patiently challenged.

Michelle narrowed her eyes, causing Aiden to pull back. "We're not doing that."

"Fine," Aiden sighed, picking up a piece of sand colored construction paper in order to begin cutting out other aspects of the normal-type Pokémon.

After working together, the three siblings were able to create a very good caricature of a Teddiursa. Elizabeth was particularly fond of the piece and vowed to keep it once the competition was over. Not long after that, Miss Holly announced that they were ready to begin the guessing games. Hailie and Lucy were the first group to go up, their construction paper Pokémon hidden away in a brown paper bag.

"Hailie, why don't you start by giving us some hints about your Pokémon?" Miss Holly suggested.

"Okay!" Hailie chirped. "Well…the Pokémon Lucy and I made is a legendary Pokémon! It's part grass-type, and part psychic-type. It's only two feet tall, and it can fly!"

"Good hints!" Miss Holly complemented the young girl. "Now, the rest of the groups will have 45 seconds to guess which Pokémon it is. Go!"

Michelle slammed down on the buzzer on Elizabeth's desk, alarming her two other siblings.

"Yes, Michelle?" Miss Holly called.

"It's Celebi!" Michelle answered with a smile.

"Yeah!" Hailie giggled, reaching into the paper bag and holding up the little green fairy-like creature made of construction paper.

Aiden was still gawking, but managed to turn towards his sister. "How did you know that?"

"Oh, well, Professor Oak tells me all the time about how he met Celebi when he was young," Michelle replied thoughtfully. "So I know all about it!"

"Excellent work!" Miss Holly chirped. "Hailie, would you give your Celebi to Michelle?"

"Uh huh!" Hailie replied, scurrying over to Michelle and handing over the craft. "Here you go!"

"Aw, thanks, Hailie!" Michelle giggled.

Suddenly, Elizabeth's eyes widened in horror. "What?! We gotta give it away?! Miss Holly didn't say _that_ before!"

"It's not a big deal, Lizzie," Aiden murmured. "It's just made of construction paper."

"Yeah, but I made it and I love it!" Elizabeth wailed.

"Okay, so that's just even more reason to make sure nobody guesses what kind of Pokémon it is that we picked," Aiden replied. "We can do that, right?"

"I guess…" Elizabeth muttered, sounding unsure.

The next group to go was David and Josh. They got to the front of the room, paper bag in hand, both of them looking very confident.

"David, your hints?" Miss Holly prodded.

"Me and Josh picked a fairy Pokémon!" David exclaimed, much to the surprise of his classmates. He was a very typical boy, and a fairy type Pokémon seemed way out of character for him to focus on. "But that type is kind of weird, because this Pokémon is really tough! It's got big fangs, and if you scare it, it'll get really mad and go crazy."

"Very interesting," Miss Holly mused, smiling at David and Josh. "Alright everyone, your 45 seconds starts now!"

For the first few seconds, there was nothing but hushed whispers amongst all of the groups.

"A tough fairy type?" Aiden murmured incredulously. "I didn't think that was possible!"

"Maybe it's got a secondary type that David didn't mention," Michelle thought aloud.

"Oh, you mean a Pokémon like Mawile?" Aiden replied. "It's part steel, and definitely tough!"

"That's a good guess!" Michelle gasped. "It's got a whole extra head full of fangs, after all!"

With a smirk, Elizabeth smacked the buzzer on her desk, gaining her teacher's attention.

"Yes, Elizabeth?"

"Mawile!" Elizabeth squeaked.

Miss Holly turned her attention back onto David, who smirked at the girl. "Nope! Not Mawile."

Elizabeth groaned and looked up at her stunned siblings with narrowed eyes.

"What?!" Aiden cried. "I _totally_ thought it was Mawile! What other fairy type Pokémon has fangs?"

The sound of another buzzer went off, causing Aiden and his sisters to whip around. This one had been hit by Maria's cousin, Belinda.

"I'm thinking it's Snubbull," Belinda guessed.

"David?" Miss Holly asked the young boy.

"Nuh uh!" David refuted, much to everyone's surprise.

A high pitched beep sounded, causing Miss Holly to look down at her wristwatch. "Time is up! David, which Pokémon did you and Josh choose?"

David reached into the paper bag held by his brother and pulled out a pink, dog-like Pokémon made of construction paper. "Belinda was really close! Josh and I picked Granbull, which evolves from Snubbull."

"That was a very interesting choice, you two!" Miss Holly commended. "And since no one was able to guess Granbull, you get the point!"

As Josh and David high-fived to celebrate, Elizabeth whipped around in her seat to glare at her older siblings. "I can't lose to David!"

"Forget _him_ , we can't lose to _anyone_!" Aiden cried.

"Aiden, those two are just like Mom and Dad," Michelle sighed. "They're super competitive, which means Elizabeth doesn't want to lose to him. I don't think she quite cares about anyone else."

"No, I wanna win anyway," Elizabeth retorted. "But I wanna beat David the most! He gets all bratty when he wins stuff."

"Elizabeth, why don't you and your group come up and share your Pokémon hints?"

The young girl turned her head to look over at her teacher. "Okay." She stuffed the paper Teddiursa into the brown bag and jumped up from her seat, walking to the front of the room with Aiden and Michelle. "So…our Pokémon is a normal-type, and it's very cute! It-"

Elizabeth was cut off by the sharp, unmistakable sound of a buzzer. The young girl blinked hard and realized that it was none other than David who was responsible.

"Yes, David?" Miss Holly called.

"Their Pokémon is Teddiursa!" David crowed.

Miss Holly turned to ask the group if that was correct, but the words were lost when she saw the shock on their faces. "Oh…"

Elizabeth's face suddenly snapped into one of anger. "I didn't even finish! You cheated!"

"No I didn't!" David argued.

"Then how'd you know it was Teddiursa?!" Elizabeth demanded.

"Cause Teddiursa is your favorite," David replied as though it were obvious.

Elizabeth's face softened, and she slowly lowered the little fist that had risen during her shouting match with David. Aiden then set his own narrowed glare on Michelle, who still looked stunned.

"I knew Teddiursa was a bad choice!" Aiden hissed. "These kids all know it's Lizzie's favorite…"

Michelle, who was too exasperated to argue, just sighed and smacked a hand against her forehead.

 **XXX**

"We've had a lot of fun today, haven't we?" Miss Holly asked the class and their guests, having brought them to the school's outdoor battlefields. "But now it's time for the biggest event of the day! The battle tournament!"

Aiden's eyes lit up. "Finally! Something I have zero doubts about!"

"The matches will be decided by each student pulling a random name out of this bag," Miss Holly continued, holding up a paper bag for demonstration. "After the initial matches, they will continue bracket style until we reach our final two. Each match will be a one-on-one battle with no substitutions, and whoever knocks out the other trainer's Pokémon first is the winner! Now, let's pick the match ups! Gracie, you'll pick first."

As Miss Holly made her way down the line, Elizabeth turned her head to smirk at David. "There's no way you guys are gonna beat us now."

David looked over at Elizabeth and raised an eyebrow. "How come?"

"Cause my sister is the best coordinator ever!" Michelle gushed. "And my brother may be dumb when it comes to answering questions and stuff, but when he battles, he isn't dumb at all!"

"You know, I can hear you…" Aiden grumbled from behind his younger sister.

Elizabeth huffed and whipped her head around. "It's true!"

"Mom _did_ teach us not to lie," Michelle murmured thoughtfully, earning a glare from Aiden.

"Our first battle will be between Michelle and Lucy!"

Michelle looked ahead at the battlefield, where Miss Holly was now standing at centerfield. The young coordinator smirked and walked over, settling herself in the far right trainer's box. Across the way, Lucy stood in the opposite box, smiling right back at the redhead.

"Hailie, didn't Lucy used to be a coordinator?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yep!" Hailie chirped.

"Cool! So this is gonna be like a contest battle!" David marveled.

"I'm excited!" Maria giggled.

"Reveal your Pokémon!" Miss Holly called.

"Wigglytuff, let's go!" Lucy cried, throwing her poke ball and releasing the balloon Pokémon.

Michelle just smirked and glanced at Pichu, who was perched on her shoulder. "Pichu, you ready?"

"Pi!"

The baby Pokémon jumped off onto the battlefield, her cheeks sparking as she stared over at Wigglytuff.

"Isn't Pichu a baby Pokémon?" Maria asked. "Won't it get hurt?"

"Nah, Pichu's special!" Elizabeth refuted. "Just watch!"

"Battle begin!" Miss Holly shouted.

"Wigglytuff, use ice beam!" Lucy ordered.

The balloon Pokémon drew in a breath of air before shooting a beam of blue light out of her mouth. Michelle and Pichu seemed unaffected by such a move, however.

"Pichu, dodge it and use charge beam!"

The little mouse jumped up in the air, the ice beam fizzling out beneath her as she smacked her little paws together to create a ball of energy. That ball of energy then released a beam of electricity which hit Wigglytuff head on.

"Alright!" Elizabeth crowed.

"Wow, that was really strong," David breathed.

Lucy scowled as Wigglytuff stumbled backwards. "Quick, use dazzling gleam!"

"Wiggly!"

The dual type's body became surrounded in a rainbow glow before flashing a bright light. Pichu squeaked and covered her eyes, having become disoriented after the flash.

"Now, power-up punch!"

Wigglytuff ran forward, her fist quickly gaining a bright orange glow. With Pichu still out of sorts from dazzling gleam, the balloon Pokémon drove her fist into Pichu's body, sending the baby Pokémon flying backwards.

"Yay! Go Lucy!" Hailie cheered.

Elizabeth whipped her disbelieving stare around from Hailie onto her older sister. "Come on, Shelly! You can't lose _now!_ "

"Yeah, trying _not_ to," Michelle grumbled. "Pichu, shake it off and use thundershock!"

The little mouse shook her head, and having regained enough of her bearings, powered up her cheeks and unleashed an impressive electric attack that caused all the young students, besides Elizabeth, to marvel at its power.

When the bright light subsided, Wigglytuff could be seen shifting from side to side until collapsing in a heap on the battlefield. Lucy appeared stunned, while Michelle was positively thrilled.

"Wigglytuff is unable to battle!" Miss Holly announced. "Pichu is the winner!"

"Yay Shelly!" Elizabeth cheered, jumping up and down with excitement.

The older girl held out her arm for Pichu to climb up and perch on her shoulder. The baby mouse rubbed against her trainer's cheek, both of them giggling.

"Nice job, Pichu!" Michelle complimented her partner.

"Pi!" Pichu squeaked.

Elizabeth turned towards Hailie and frowned at the girl. "I'm sorry Lucy lost."

"It's okay!" Hailie assured, grinning from ear-to-ear. "That was one of the best battles ever!"

 **XXX**

Ultimately, the tournament came down to Josh and Aiden. Michelle wasn't exactly pleased that she'd managed to get knocked out, but she _was_ interested in seeing just how the two boys matched up.

"I really hope Aiden wins," Elizabeth practically whined. "If Josh beats him, David will rub it in my face forever!"

"All you ever talk about is David getting on your nerves," Michelle noted. "Do you two _actually_ like each other?"

"Yeah," Elizabeth replied as though it were obvious. "Mommy and Daddy do."

Michelle thought about it for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "Fair point."

"Venusaur, let's go!"

"Blastoise, I choose you!"

The two girls turned their attention back onto the battlefield as Josh and Aiden released their Pokémon.

"Ooh, they're both using their partners!" Elizabeth marveled.

"Water types are weak against grass types," Maria softly commented.

"Which means Venusaur has the advantage!" David boasted, suddenly popping in with the group.

Elizabeth scowled at the boy. "Doesn't mean he's gonna win!"

"No, but he's got a good chance," David retorted.

Elizabeth furrowed her brow. "My daddy never worries about type match ups, and Aiden watches him battle all the time. He's got just as good of a chance!"

The two glowered at one another, Michelle shifting her eyes between the two.

"Huh, they really _are_ like Mom and Dad."

"Blastoise, use hydro pump!"

Michelle whipped her head around just in time to see Blastoise's strongest attack send Venusaur skidding back towards his trainer.

"That sure was strong!" Hailie breathed.

"Yeah, Blastoise is super tough!" Elizabeth agreed.

"Maybe, but I bet Josh already knows what to do next!" David bragged.

"Venusaur, vine whip!" Josh commanded. "Drag Blastoise down to the ground!"

Venusaur unleashed a set of twin vines, wrapping them around a surprised Blastoise's arms. Using all of its strength, Venusaur managed to wrestle a struggling Blastoise to the ground, just like his trainer wanted.

"Great, now flip it onto its back!" Josh ordered.

"Blastoise, hydro pump again!" Aiden yelled.

As Venusaur continued attempting to move Blastoise into the most inconvenient position possible, the water type unleashed his most powerful water attack; straight into the ground. It sent Blastoise flying in the air, flipping Venusaur around as its vines were still clutching Blastoise's arms. Now it was the grass type lying on its back, as Blastoise landed steadily back on its feet.

"No!" Josh gasped.

"Wow, that was so cool!" Hailie marveled.

"Yeah, your brother thought of that really fast," Maria breathed.

"Of course he did!" Elizabeth crowed, smirking at a stunned David. "He's the best!"

 **XXX**

"And the winner of this year's Trainers' Day tournament is…Aiden!"

The young students and their guests all cheered for the flustered boy, who blushed and laughed nervously at their warm reception. "Heh…thanks, everyone!"

Josh approached the older trainer, offering his hand. "That was a great battle, Aiden!"

The boy grinned and shook Josh's hand. "Yeah, you too!"

"I learned a whole lot from watching you in action," Josh continued. "I totally want to add some of your battle style moving forward!"

"That'd be awesome!"

David was still visibly annoyed, and didn't feel any better after Elizabeth brushed right up against him. "Told you my brother was the best!"

"Yeah, _this_ time," David huffed.

"Come on, David, don't be so grumpy!" Elizabeth playfully scolded. "That's what makes battling so fun! Just -cause he won this time doesn't mean he'd win the next time."

That seemed to soften David considerably. "I guess you're right."

"Duh!" Elizabeth giggled. "That's what Miss Holly teaches us all the time!"

David smirked and shook his head. "Just wait til Trainers' Day _next_ year! Josh will definitely beat Aiden then!"

"Hey, just because I said he might not win the next time doesn't mean I think he won't," Elizabeth bit, poking her nose against David's. "Because I think he'll kick Josh's butt all over again!"

"You wish."

"Yeah, I do!"

Josh and Aiden watched their younger siblings bicker, both of them raising an eyebrow.

"I thought David told me Elizabeth was his girlfriend," Josh mused.

"Yeah, they're kind of a strange couple," Aiden agreed.

Michelle joined the boys, sighing as she shook her head. "You know at the end of the day this is all Mom and Dad's fault. Elizabeth sees them argue, kiss and make up all the time. She thinks this is normal."

Aiden looked over at his twin. "Are you saying Mom and Dad aren't normal?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. No one in our family is normal. Not even us. But especially not Elizabeth."

Aiden turned his attention back on their younger sister, who was still arguing valiantly with David. "I know I don't agree that much with you, sis, but you're _definitely_ right on that one."


	49. Drunken Love

**This is a story I've been wanting to write forever, and I actually had a rough draft of it written out somewhere at some point, but I finally got around to writing a real, cleaned up version of it...and I'm very excited to share it with you all!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 5 years old**

* * *

 **Drunken Love**

Of all the things Misty could've been doing tonight, or at least wanting to do, having dinner with her husband's manager was at the bottom of her list.

It was usually insufferable regardless, but at the moment, the situation was made even worse by the fact that Misty was pregnant…and she and Ash had neglected to reveal this information to Scott just yet. She was still relatively early on, not even two months yet, so that played into the decision. But they also hadn't told him yet because they knew Scott would freak, so they had to find a way to do it delicately, and neither of them had come up with a good solution yet.

The task of telling Scott that Misty was expecting, in a sense, was actually worse than having to tell their own children.

Sitting in the booth at the pricey, upscale restaurant in downtown Cerulean, Misty was only grateful she hadn't had any bouts of morning sickness that day. The week prior, at the Indigo Conference, she'd been pretty seriously ill, and it was incredibly difficult to hide that fact, especially from her fellow gym leaders and other league executives. If she were to be dealing with it in this small space, right under Scott's nose…it would've been a bonafide disaster.

It was just her and Ash for now, which she was grateful for. He, however, couldn't stop watching her toy with her bright red hair, which she had tied off into a low side ponytail that would rest against the front of her shoulder when she wasn't threading it through her fingers.

"You nervous?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What gave it away?" Misty murmured, staring straight ahead.

Ash smirked and reached out to gently lower her hand, which finally got Misty's attention. "Just chill, okay? He's not gonna know anything is up if we just act normal."

Misty seemed to heed his advice for a grand total of 30 seconds. When she felt she was going to explode from anxiety again, she turned back towards Ash and rushed out, "do you think I should call your mother to check on the twins?"

Ash searched her face before replying "no. Why would you? Everything was fine when we left them."

"I don't know," Misty whined, throwing both her hands down. "I'm just…a mess?"

She hadn't meant for the last part to come out as a question, but her own voice had betrayed her. Ash's sly smile returned, and he slowly shook his head.

"Just try and enjoy yourself," he tried again. "I know Scott can get on your nerves, but it's only dinner. It'll be over before you know it!"

"So sorry I'm late!"

Ash and Misty looked up as Scott rushed up to the table, very red in the face and sounding quite out of breath.

"Geez Scott, did you run here?" Ash questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"No," Scott puffed, squeezing himself into the left-hand side of the semi-circle booth. "It took me _forever_ to find a parking spot, and it's not even near the restaurant. I only started to rush when I realized what time it was."

"You're not even 10 minutes late," Misty reasoned with the man. "It's not a big deal. I would know; I'm married to the _king_ of being late to _everything._ "

Ash adopted a deadpan expression as Misty took a slow sip from her water glass.

"Fair point," Scott conceded. "But I'm very much used to being on time, so for me this is out of character. But don't worry – I'll make it up to the two of you."

Neither Ash nor Misty had any idea what Scott meant by that. It didn't take long for them to get an answer, though, as Scott flagged down the first waiter he happened to see.

"Yes, I'd like a bottle of your finest wine, thank you," he instructed the waiter, who bowed in response.

Misty stiffened at the mention of alcohol. While Ash's reaction wasn't as edged, he was still taken off guard by the request. "Scott, you really didn't have to do that."

"Nonsense, I insist," Scott dismissed, waving a hand at a visibly unsure Ash. "It'll be a nice treat for all of us."

When the bottle arrived, an apparently very pricey sauvignon blanc imported directly from Kalos, three glasses were automatically poured. Not like Misty would have rejected it anyway; if she had, then Scott would've _definitely_ known something was up.

He was the first to take a sip of the wine, grinning afterwards. "That's incredible. There's nothing worse than having an expensive wine that doesn't match in taste."

Ash took a small sip himself and wrinkled his nose as the potent liquid went down. "It's good. I don't think it tastes any different than the wine my mom buys from the liquor store in Viridian, though."

Scott sighed, clearly exasperated that Ash still didn't understand or appreciate the finer things in life. He then turned his attention onto Misty, and twisted his mouth when he realized that her wine glass was still untouched.

"Misty, you haven't tried it yet," Scott pointed out.

"Huh?" Misty babbled, picking her head up. She'd been busy staring down at her hands, zoning out. There was nothing there, but she still spouted out the excuse, "sorry, I was texting Delia."

Scott still seemed perplexed. "Isn't she watching Aiden and Michelle? And Pikachu?"

"Yes," Misty breathed, quickly nodding her head. "I was just checking in."

"Hmm," Scott hummed. He obviously wasn't too interested. "Well, you have to try the wine! You've got a far more refined palette for these things than Ash does."

Once again, Ash looked offended. Misty, however, was too discombobulated to laugh. Knowing she'd have to get Scott off her back somehow, she raised the glass to her lips and tilted it back, causing Ash to grow wide eyed.

"Oh yeah, that's great!" Misty concurred once she put the glass down, beaming at Scott.

"The floral notes really stand out, don't they?" Scott asked. He and Misty butted heads often, but he did enjoy discussing fine foods and alcohol with her, since she had relatively good knowledge of such things. Of course, she wasn't at someone like _Cilan's_ level, but she knew enough to keep Scott appeased.

"Yes, it really gives a unique profile," Misty agreed.

Scott smiled to himself, clearly proud of his choice, before picking up his menu and burying his face in it.

" _Misty!_ " Ash hissed under his breath, making sure Scott couldn't see or hear him.

"I didn't drink it!" Misty growled back just as softly, which caused Ash to relax. "I only made it _look_ like I did."

"Oh, that's smart," Ash whispered, now sounding impressed.

"Thanks, except I've got to find a way to get rid of the rest of it," Misty groaned.

"Just don't drink it," Ash replied as though it were obvious.

"That's not gonna work!" Misty cried, though her voice was still low. "Scott's gonna wonder why it's just sitting there, especially after I just praised it like that."

Ash was troubled. He knew Misty was right, but he wasn't sure how to take care of her glass. After all, it wasn't like they were sitting near a plant that she could just pour the wine into. That thought, however, gave him another idea. It was one he wasn't exactly fond of, but this was a situation where he was willing to do whatever it took to help Misty out…even if it wasn't his preference.

With Scott's face still behind his menu, Ash picked up Misty's wine glass and downed the alcohol in three big gulps. Now it was Misty's turn to gawk, watching with unblinking eyes and a slack jaw as Ash put the glass down and made a disgusted face.

"I think I found exactly what I…oh, wow. You must've _really_ liked the wine, Misty."

The still stunned gym leader took another look at her empty glass. "Oh…yeah! It was so good; I just couldn't help myself!"

"Good thing I got a whole bottle," Scott remarked, lifting it from its perch inside the marble cooler and pouring more for the woman.

Misty offered Scott a weak smile, her anxiety peaking all over again. Ash, on the other hand, was unhappy but also undeterred. He took a long sip from his own glass, knowing Scott would notice if his went untouched as well. Whenever Scott _wasn't_ looking, Ash would take a sip from Misty's glass. This little game continued until both Ash _and_ Misty's glasses were empty, which prompted Scott to pour more for both before either could protest.

"Ash, stop," Misty hissed to her husband when he took another sip of her wine while Scott spoke to the waiter. "You cannot handle all of that wine."

"I've got to, Mist," Ash groaned after swallowing his latest sip. "We can't just let it sit here."

"This is your fourth and fifth glass," Misty sighed. "You _know_ you don't hold your liquor well."

"I'll be…fine," Ash assured her, taking a long pause between the last two words. Misty narrowed her eyes. He was getting tipsy, and fast.

"This is getting out of hand," Misty grumbled. "Let's just be honest with Scott. It'll be easier that way."

Ash quickly shook his head. "Not yet."

"Not yet what?"

Ash blinked hard and turned towards Scott, who had an eyebrow raised.

"I…meant I'm not full yet!" Ash blurted, a bit too loudly. "I'm _definitely_ gonna have room for dessert!"

Scott intoned and went back to his steak. "Not surprising."

Ash sighed and took another sip of Misty's wine, much to her horror. Once he was done, Ash put down the glass and smirked at his disturbed wife.

"You know…I'm actually feeling pretty good!"

Misty just rolled her eyes and rested her head in her hand. She was in for _some_ kind of night.

 **XXX**

Ash was not a big drinker.

For the most part, he thought almost all alcohol tasted pretty bad. He'd developed a bit more of an acceptance for it with age, mostly to fit in with his buddies like Brock or Gary whenever they hung out. But even then, he rarely drank more than one glass or bottle of anything. For the most part, he still found the taste off-putting, and he also had a pretty low tolerance for the stuff.

Misty had a much higher tolerance for alcohol, which was pretty much inevitable being surrounded by three sisters who were borderline alcoholics for so many years. She could easily drink half a bottle of wine on her own before getting a buzz, though it wasn't exactly something Misty was proud of.

She had seen Ash drunk once, _maybe_ twice, in her life. He certainly hadn't been since the twins were born. Ash was very conscientious of how he behaved when his children were around, and even when they weren't, he had them in the back of his mind.

But this time, he really didn't have much of a choice. He had only done it to protect Misty. For that, she felt pretty bad, even though she'd tried to convince him repeatedly not to drink her share on top of his own. As soon as he'd hit his tipping point, however, there was no going back. Ash was feeling no pain, and he was _really_ enjoying it.

Driving home hadn't been difficult for Misty. Dragging her husband into the house, on the other hand, was. He weighed twice as much as she did, after all, and him stumbling around didn't make it any easier. Vaporeon was already asleep in the den, and although Ash and Misty's arrival had stirred her, she went right back to sleep once she realized it was just them.

As Misty struggled to get him up the stairs, after kicking her heels off by the door so as to not further burden herself, all she could think was how grateful she was that Aiden, Michelle, and Pikachu were spending the night at Delia's. The last thing she needed them to see was this pathetic display.

As soon as she reached their bedroom, Misty practically threw Ash onto the bed. She let out an exhausted sigh and bent over, grasping at her knees.

"Okay, that would've been too much even if I _wasn't_ pregnant," Misty grumbled, finally standing up to her full height.

Ash suddenly started to laugh wildly as he flung himself back up, grinning at Misty with a smile that looked like it might crack his face in half.

"What, you think that's funny?" Misty deadpanned.

Without any warning, Ash started to swing his arms around, pulling a determined face as he did so. Misty watched for a few seconds before deciding it was _insanely_ cringey and she needed some answers.

"What're you doing?" She sighed.

"Mega evolving!" Ash announced, his voice several decibels too high. "Go, mega Ash!"

"Arceus, you're so drunk," Misty muttered. "Will you survive for 15 minutes if I go take a quick shower?"

Ash lowered his arms and tried slinking towards Misty, eventually getting too close to the end of the bed and falling right over on his head.

"That's a resounding no," Misty squeaked, wincing at her husband's less than graceful tumble. "Ash, are you alright?"

Staying in the same position, he started laughing all over again. That told Misty he either wasn't hurt, or he was just too far gone to feel it. If she had to guess, it was the latter.

"Come on, get up," she breathed, clutching the stiff material of his dress shirt to try and help him back onto the bed. It worked, but took about all of the energy Misty had left right out of her. Rolling her eyes, she threw herself down on the bed and let out an exhausted huff.

It was when she landed next to him that Ash stopped laughing. Adopting a more curious look, Ash crawled over to her and gently shook her shoulder. Misty slowly turned her head, her eyes flickering with confusion. As soon as she looked at him, Ash let out a relieved sigh and slumped his shoulders. "Good, you're alive."

Misty blinked. "You…thought I wasn't?"

Ash made a bewildered noise and shrugged.

"Well, if I can't shower, the least you can let me do is get into pajamas," Misty sighed, pushing herself back up. "You should do the same. You're gonna need to sleep this off _big_ time."

"-m fine," Ash slurred.

"I might've believed that if you didn't sound totally sloshed," Misty snickered. She just couldn't help herself. It was a _little_ funny. She knew it wouldn't be in the morning, though, hence her insistence that Ash try and go to bed.

"Wait!" Ash cried, leading Misty to raise an eyebrow. It was the most coherent Ash had sounded all night.

"Yes?" She asked patiently.

Ash remained silent for a moment before eliding, "you're _so_ pretty."

It wasn't as though Misty wasn't used to hearing that out of him, but for whatever reason, it brought a blush to her face. Probably because Ash was so out of whack at the moment that she was thrown off that he was even able to string that thought together. Before she could respond, Ash jumped at her, trying to kiss her but instead losing his balance and knocking her back down onto the bed. Misty grimaced, glancing down at her husband, who was now resting directly atop her chest.

"You and alcohol _really_ do not mix, Ash Ketchum," she quipped.

He hiccupped before softly repeating, "you're _so_ pretty."

Misty smirked and shook her head. She managed to wriggle out from beneath her incapacitated husband, leaving him lying there despondently as she sauntered towards the dresser. She pulled open a drawer and retrieved a black t-shirt and pale blue and white stripped boxers, tossing them towards Ash. They landed on top of his face, and he just stayed like that for a few long seconds before removing them.

"Put those on," Misty giggled. "It's bed time."

She felt like she was talking to Aiden or Michelle instead of her husband, though she supposed that was fair. Overtired little kids, after all, really weren't much different than drunk adults.

Misty quickly slipped out of her navy blue dress in favor of a pale blue tank top and white shorts. By the time she had changed and turned around, Ash was still lying on the bed, his own pajamas still crumpled up beside him.

"C'mon, Ash!" Misty groaned. "You're making my life really difficult here."

"-m not tired," Ash whined.

Misty dramatically rolled her eyes. Now she _really_ felt like she was dealing with one of their kids. "Could you _at least_ put your pajamas on and lie in bed, then?"

Ash pressed his lips into a thin line and stayed that way for a long moment. Misty narrowed her eyes, but just as she was about to snap at him, Ash replied with a simple, "yep."

He sat up robotically and tried removing his dress shirt without undoing the buttons. Misty watched him struggle for a bit, trying to shrug off the shirt and, eventually, biting at the collar to try and remove it that way.

"Okay, this is just sad," Misty sighed, walking over to Ash. She managed to undo all of his buttons and slide the shirt off, holding it away from him. "Can you get your _pants_ off by yourself, or do you need help with that too?"

"Uuuuuh…" Ash droned, continuing to do so as he managed to wiggle his way out of his pants.

"Great," Misty grumbled. "Now give me those so you can-"

Before Misty could finish, Ash tossed the pants at her, the dark gray slacks landing on her head and covering her face. Ash started to laugh wildly, while Misty grabbed the pants and yanked them off of her head, revealing a brilliantly red face.

"My sympathy for you is _really_ wearing thin."

 **XXX**

By the next morning, Misty had managed to muster up a lot more compassion for her husband.

In contrast to his oblivious, drunken state the night before, Ash was now feeling a _lot_ of pain. Most specifically in his head. It felt like there was a three-on-three battle happening within his skull, and all Ash could do was moan about it.

Misty was standing in the doorway, watching him with a frown on her face. She'd left quickly to make herself a cup of tea (coffee would've been preferable, but decaffeinated was the recommendation for someone pregnant like herself, and that wouldn't do a thing for Misty), but Ash had still been asleep then…certainly not moaning like that. She, in fact, couldn't tell if he was actually awake or not. Either way, while she was downstairs, she had also prepared a beverage for Ash: seltzer water, in the hopes that it may do the bare minimum to relieve his hangover.

She approached his nightstand, gently placing the seltzer water down. As soon as the glass hit the table, he moaned more loudly, indicating to Misty that he had heard it and that it was far too loud for his sensitive head.

"Ash?" Misty asked softly, willing to check if he was actually awake at this point.

The man's eyes finally cracked open, and they were completely bloodshot. He whimpered and reached up to grab his head, grumbling, "I feel like I got run over by a Snorlax."

"Not exactly…" Misty sighed. "You drank too much last night."

"I…huh?" Ash mumbled.

"You were drinking your wine _and_ my wine so Scott wouldn't realize I was pregnant," Misty explained, realizing that Ash had no recollection of this.

Ash sighed and lowered his hand. "So…"

Misty blinked when Ash trailed off and never finished. "You're hungover."

Ash groaned and rolled over onto his face. "Wine's not even worth it."

"I tried to get you to stop, but you wouldn't listen," Misty continued, a smile managing to creep its way onto her face. His stubborn ass never learned. "You just wanted to protect me. I'm really grateful for it, Ash. Thank you."

Despite the massive ache in his head, Ash smiled at her. "Of course. I love you, Mist."

Misty giggled and kissed him on the forehead. "I left some seltzer water on the nightstand for you, and I'm going to go get you some ibuprofen to take. It's not going to make the hangover go away, but it might help a little. You can try and get some sleep while I go get the twins and Pikachu from your mom's."

Ash started to pout. "I wish I could go with you. But…I think if I get out of bed, I'll go right to the floor."

"No, you're not going anywhere," Misty agreed. "But don't worry; I'll keep the twins and their squeaky, generally way too loud voices away from you today."

"I feel bad…" Ash sighed. "Well, staying away from them. I feel bad physically, too."

"I know you do," Misty assured him. "But this is for the best. I'm sure by tomorrow you'll be up for being used as a jungle gym again!"

 **XXX**

"Did you two have fun with Grammy?"

"Yeah!" Aiden gushed. "She made us macaroni and cheese for dinner! But the one she makes all on her own, not the one from the box!"

Misty deadpanned at the inadvertent jab at her cooking skills. "That's wonderful."

"And she took us to the candy store!" Michelle added. "We got a bunch of stuff!"

"I know, Grammy gave me all of your leftovers," Misty snickered. "I hope you two know you'll be sharing with me!"

"No way!" Aiden laughed.

Misty giggled before adding, "well, I'm glad you guys had such a good time. But I really missed you!"

"We missed you too, Mommy!" Michelle exclaimed.

The only one who hadn't said anything during this exchange was Pikachu. He was perched on Misty's shoulder, looking around confusedly. Finally, he glanced over at the gym leader and squeaked, "pikapi?"

Misty's lips parted. Michelle, who understood some of Pikachu's language, added, "yeah, where's Daddy?"

Wracking her brain, Misty finally replied, "he really wanted to come with me to pick you guys up, but he wasn't feeling so well, so I wanted him to stay in bed."

Michelle frowned. "Is he okay?"

"He'll be fine," Misty assured her daughter.

"Did the baby make him sick like it makes you sick?" Aiden asked, tilting his head.

Misty was about to say no, but as she thought about it, she realized Aiden wasn't completely off base. "That could be, little guy. But just like me, he's gonna be okay! You two will just hang out with me until he feels better, okay?"

"Okay!" They both chirped.

"Aw, you're both so sweet!" Misty giggled. "Come on, let's get home now."

She got both kids into their booster seats while Pikachu settled in between them. The ride home remained uneventful, with the exception of both Aiden and Michelle talking their mother's ear off; typical of the two children when they were very excited. Once they made it home and into the house, everything seemed to be in one piece, for which Misty was grateful. Maybe now things would settle down.

That hope was quickly diminished when she, the twins, and Pikachu heard a bunch of stumbling, crashing, and groaning coming from upstairs.

"Daddy?" Michelle wondered aloud.

Aiden glanced up at his mother and commented, "That sounds like a whole big mess."

Misty sighed and shook her head, though she couldn't fight the smirk that grew on her face. Kids were so unintentionally funny…much like her husband the night before.

"You're absolutely right, sweetheart. Do you two mind if I go check on your Daddy quickly?"

"Okay!" Michelle giggled. "Aiden and I can play with Pikachu while we wait!"

Misty smiled and ruffled the hair of both children before hurrying up the stairs. She found Ash lying in a heap on the floor beside the bed, groaning but otherwise not moving.

"What did you do?" Misty sighed.

"I was trying to go to the bathroom…" Ash grumbled. "But the whole room is spinning."

"You shouldn't have tried to get up without me," Misty gently admonished him.

"What do you expect me to do, pee in the bed?" Ash deadpanned.

"No, I definitely don't want that," Misty quickly refuted, walking over to Ash to help him up. "But the twins are downstairs, so I've got to be able to split my attention between the three of you. Pikachu is with them, but I can't just leave him alone with them. They're a bit of a handful, you know."

Ash groaned and buried his face in his hands, trying to get the world around him to still. "I'm never drinking again."

"That's fair, considering you didn't even want to drink this time," Misty hummed.

Ash sighed and lowered his hands, though his eyes were still shut. "Okay. I'm going to go in the bathroom, try not to barf, and then lay on my face for the rest of the day."

Misty gave her husband a thumbs up. "Sounds like a plan. Let me know if you need anything!"

"Yep, will do," Ash muttered, trudging to the bathroom. He reached for the door and tried to close it, but missed completely and just kept going, not realizing he hadn't been successful.

"Oh, Ash you didn't…" Misty slowly trailed off, stopping herself. "You know what, he's been through enough. Just let him go with the door open."

* * *

 **Adult Ash being bigger than Adult Misty but with far less of a tolerance for alcohol is honestly one of my favorite headcanons. Misty can 100% outdrink most grown men.**


	50. Boy Talk

**Thought it was time for some more of Misty's nieces. She's a great aunt, and I think it's fun to write their interactions.**

 **Elizabeth is here to be a bit of a munch ;)**

 **Dakota: 13 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 3 years old**

* * *

 **Boy Talk**

Dakota Sketchit sat in the booth of a bakery and café restaurant not far from her school, pressing her palms against the fabric-covered seat as she peered over the wooden barrier that separated her seat from the ordering and pick-up areas.

She'd had a half-day, one of the perks of being in the highest grade of Cerulean Day School. Of course, her mother hadn't been able to pick her up. She had an all-day modeling job out in Vermillion City. And her father was hard at work at Professor Oak's laboratory in Pallet Town, simultaneously working on some textbook artwork no doubt.

Fortunately for Dakota, her favorite aunt had managed to come through, as always.

The young teen's sea green eyes lit up as she saw her aunt walking around towards the table, a tray of food in her hands. The woman soon appeared beside the table, placing the food down with a smile on her face.

"Here's your and Elizabeth's lunches," Misty informed her niece. "I just have to go back and get mine. Do you mind keeping an eye on Elizabeth for just a few minutes?"

"Yeah, no problem!" Dakota chirped.

The aforementioned little red head popped up beside her cousin, a bright smile on her young face. "I wanna sit next to Koty!"

"Aw, that's so cute!" Dakota giggled. "Of course you can sit next to me, Lizzie."

Misty beamed at the two. "Don't wait for me to start on your food. I'm sure you're both starving by now!"

And with that, Misty headed back for the second tray of food. Dakota reached across the table, grabbing a small bowl of macaroni and cheese and positioning it front of her cousin.

"Don't eat it until I give you a spoon, okay?" Dakota requested.

Elizabeth nodded her head. Dakota picked up a plastic spoon from the tray and handed it over to Elizabeth, who grinned in response.

"Thank you!" Elizabeth warbled.

"Sure thing," Dakota calmly replied. She grabbed her own lunch; a rather intricate looking salad that her aunt had told her was quite good. Dakota had decided she wanted to start acting more like a grown up and therefore _eating_ more like a grownup, which Elizabeth for one couldn't understand. After all, how could a bowl full of leaves be better than macaroni and cheese? It just couldn't.

Misty soon returned with the second tray, this one holding a cup of soup and half of a sandwich. She sat down across from the younger girls, letting out a content breath as she lifted her own spoon. "So, Dakota, how was school today?"

Dakota shrugged. "It was okay. Kind of boring. I like half days because I get to leave so early and do other stuff!"

"Like having lunch with me?" Misty asked with a wink.

"Exactly!" Dakota crowed.

"Hey!" Elizabeth cried, pounding her small fists against the table just once.

"Oh, obviously I love having lunch with you too, Lizzie!" Dakota quickly assured her younger cousin.

"Good," Elizabeth squeaked, returning to her lunch as quickly as she'd abandoned it.

Dakota smiled as she stabbed a forkful of her salad and gingerly placed it in her mouth. As she chewed her bite, she quietly watched her aunt, who was still wearing a smile on her face as she began working on her own food. Dakota had been meaning to ask her aunt something for a while, and figured now would be as good a time as ever, considering they were basically alone (Dakota didn't really count Elizabeth since she was so young).

"Aunt Misty, I have a question," Dakota said once she'd swallowed her first bite.

Misty swallowed a spoonful of soup before beaming at her niece. "Fire away!"

"How do you get a boy to like you?"

Misty was glad she hadn't eaten more soup, because at that moment she would've choked on it. Dakota was unaffected by her aunt's obviously stunned reaction, while Elizabeth switched her gaze between the two.

"B-boy?" Misty stammered, causing Dakota to nod. "Don't you think it's too early for boys?"

Dakota may have been her niece, but Misty couldn't help but to think of the girl almost like another daughter. She'd watched after Dakota since she was just a baby, and was very protective of her.

"No," Dakota quickly replied. "I'm 13! Besides, I've had boyfriends before, but not like… _real_ boyfriends."

"Real boyfriends?" Misty repeated, furrowing her brow.

"Yeah, you know, like a serious boyfriend," Dakota continued. "My other boyfriends were just little kid boyfriends. They'd follow me around and give me little presents and stuff like that, but we didn't even hold hands. Didn't you have boyfriends like that?"

"No," Misty sheepishly admitted, bringing a small spoonful of soup to her lips.

Dakota inclined her head. "Oh. Well…how many real boyfriends did you have?"

Misty dipped the spoon back into the steaming cup in front of her. "One."

Dakota's eyes widened as she leaned forward. "You mean Uncle Ash was the only boyfriend you ever had?!"

Misty winced as the volume of her niece's voice rose. "Yeah, he was."

"That's so cute!" Dakota squealed, much to Misty's surprise. She had thought for a moment she was going to get teased. "Did you always know you liked him that much?"

After a beat of silence, Misty sighed, and her smile returned. "Pretty much. Truthfully, I had other guys ask me out, but I never said yes."

"Oh, because you were waiting for Uncle Ash," Dakota breathed. "Adorable!"

"Yeah, but not common," Misty reminded her niece. "Don't feel obligated to fall in love with the first, uh, 'real' boyfriend you ever have. Your mom had quite a few of them before she met your dad."

Elizabeth seemed disturbed by the whole conversation. After all, her mother and cousin were missing out on a _very_ important detail, which she decided to take it upon herself to announce. "All boys –cept Daddy and Denny have cooties!"

Dakota raised an eyebrow. "Elizabeth, cooties aren't real."

"Yeah huh," Elizabeth softly argued.

"Your cousin is right, Lizzie," Misty giggled. "There's no such thing as cooties! Boys do have other issues, though."

Elizabeth blinked, not understanding what her mother meant. Dakota, however, had a better understanding of the statement.

"Yeah, like how they never know what's going on," Dakota huffed, resting her head in her hand.

"That's certainly one," Misty agreed with a giggle. "Is that a problem this boy you like has?"

Dakota quickly nodded her head. "I try and flirt with him all the time and he doesn't get it! He just thinks I'm being nice. It was kind of cute at first, but now it's pretty annoying."

"Hmm, sounds like your uncle as a kid," Misty snickered. "Fortunately, I became an expert at overcoming _that_ little problem!"

"How?" Dakota asked almost breathlessly.

"Sometimes you have to get a little more…aggressive," Misty explained, trying to choose her words carefully. "You know, be more blunt about what you're looking for. But don't _totally_ spell it out for him. You've still got to give him a little to think about."

"I guess that makes sense," Dakota murmured, furrowing her brow. "I definitely don't want to make it that easy for him."

Misty smirked at the comment. "So, what's this boy's name?"

"Zach," Dakota easily replied. Misty was taken off guard; she didn't think Dakota would tell her without any hesitation.

"I've never heard that name before," Misty admitted. "What happened to that other boy…um…Brady?"

"Oh, you mean _Brody_ ," Dakota breathed. "Yeah, he was one of those 'not really real' boyfriends. We're still friends, though."

"That's…good," Misty commented, still thrown off.

"Zach is so cool, though, and he's really cute!" Dakota continued, her whole face lighting up. "He plays soccer, basketball, and baseball. He also plays the trumpet, and he's always making these really funny jokes that make everyone laugh."

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. "Dat's not in-tis-ting!"

"Shh," Misty gently hushed the girl, who scowled in response. "I always liked the boys who were athletic and talented and funny too!"

"Daddy's funny," Elizabeth commented, her expression softening.

"Yes, he is," Misty agreed with a giggle.

"But he's also talented and athletic, too," Dakota noted, rolling her eyes up in thought. "Did you like Uncle Ash because he was all those things, or did you like all those things _becaus_ e Uncle Ash was all those things?"

Misty's face turned a little red. "I always liked those things. Your uncle just happened to have all of them."

"That's so cute!" Dakota giggled. "You guys really are like…the best couple ever!"

"I don't know about _that,_ " Misty murmured, her blush deepening.

Elizabeth furrowed her brow as she grabbed her cup of lemonade and took a long, contemplative sip from the straw. Once she finished, the little girl glanced up at her mother and quipped, "nuh uh."

"Nuh uh?" Misty repeated, sounding somewhat amused. "What do you mean by that, sprinkle?"

"Not cute," Elizabeth refuted, shaking her head.

"Come on, Lizzie," Dakota practically groaned. "I know they're your parents, but you have to admit they're pretty cute together! It's just like all those princess stories you like! You know, where the pretty princess falls in love with the handsome prince who rescues her! Except your mom would never need your dad to rescue her."

Misty smirked. "I'm glad you know me so well, Koty."

"Well, duh!" Dakota crowed, sounding remarkably like her mother. "It'd be bad if I didn't."

"Daddy's not a pwince," Elizabeth argued.

Dakota sighed tiredly and glanced at her aunt. Misty, on the other hand, slowly shook her head and toyed with her young daughter's bangs. "He's a prince to me! Isn't that what counts the most?"

Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh, you're just stubborn," Misty teased, lowering her arm. "Of course, you get that from me…so I can't really be too mad about it."

"But isn't Uncle Ash kind of stubborn too?" Dakota asked.

"Yes, he can be," Misty agreed. "But I find that most men are."

Dakota smirked. "There's still a lot I need to learn about boys. I'm really glad I have you to teach me, Aunt Misty!"

Misty smiled sweetly at her niece before thinking for a moment and asking, "What about your mom? Don't you ever ask her?"

"You said it yourself, she had lots of boyfriends before Dad," Dakota replied simply. "She likes guys too much; she's not honest about all of their flaws."

Misty laughed, causing Elizabeth to furrow her brow. "You are so funny, Dakota."

Elizabeth huffed as she turned back towards her macaroni and cheese, quipping, "Boys still have cooties."


	51. Seriously Fun Parents

**I built this entire one shot over one line of Ash's that popped into my head while I was trying to formulate some different story ideas. They're so different from one another, and I think that's what makes them such a fun couple! And, of course, parents too ;)**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 4 years old**

* * *

 **Seriously Fun Parents**

"Mommy, can I eat breakfast in the living room?"

"No, Aiden," Misty sighed, placing a bowl of cereal and milk in front of her young son. "Why do you want to eat in there when we're all in here?"

"Because I want to watch _Power Raichus_ ," Aiden replied innocuously.

"No," Misty replied again, shaking her head as she gave Michelle her own bowl. "You can watch it _after_ you eat."

Aiden scowled and picked up his spoon. " _Daddy_ lets me do it…"

"What?" Misty breathed, her eyebrow twitching.

"Morning!"

Misty glared at the doorway as Ash walked in. Before she could ask the question that was on the tip of her tongue, Aiden spun around and hung over the back of his chair, renewed hope in his warm brown eyes. "Daddy, can I watch TV while I eat breakfast?"

Ash chuckled, but stopped when he realized Misty was glowering at him. "Uh…no, not today, champ."

Aiden resumed pouting as he turned back around towards the table. Knowing he was going to catch hell from his irate wife, Ash slunk over to the fridge, hoping to shirk the conversation for as long as possible.

"You let him watch TV while he eats?!"

Ash resisted the urge to throw his head back. He hadn't even gotten the refrigerator door open before Misty ambushed him. When she was mad, her focus was unmatched. Ash would've been impressed if he wasn't the subject of her scorn at the moment.

"Only sometimes," Ash confessed, carefully looking over his shoulder to get a look at her angry face.

"Ash!" Misty whined. "I thought we agreed we weren't going to let them do that!"

"I didn't think every once in a while would hurt," Ash calmly defended himself. "I always tell him not to make a mess when he eats in there."

"That's not the point," Misty grumbled.

Ash retrieved the carton of orange juice from the fridge and closed the door behind him. "Don't worry so much, Mist. It's totally harmless!"

Misty still did not seem impressed. "Did your mother ever let you watch TV when you ate?"

"Well…uh…" Ash stammered foolishly as Misty stared at him, the twins watching curiously from behind her. Finally, he gave up his stuttering and admitted, "No, never."

Aiden and Michelle both giggled, while Misty smiled satisfactorily. "I knew it! That's because she's smart."

"I agree my mom is smart, but I don't think it's because she didn't let me eat in front of the TV," Ash murmured, scratching his head.

"It's smart because she wanted you to be polite," Misty explained. "I want Aiden and Michelle to understand we eat meals at the table, as a family!"

"But then how come when you have a picnic, you eat on the floor?" Michelle asked, tilting her head.

Misty blinked, while Ash started to laugh. "That's a great question, Shelly!"

"That's an exception," Misty sighed, glancing over at her daughter. "But even then, we'd all be sitting together and talking!"

"We can sit in front of the TV together," Aiden tried. "But no talking 'cause I gotta hear _Power Raichus_!"

Ash groaned, while Misty smirked at her defeated husband. "I rest my case."

"Come on, Mist, don't you think it's okay to let them have a little fun every once in a while?" Ash asked, walking over to sit down at the table.

"I let them have fun!" Misty cried, offended by the idea that she didn't. "I just want them to have some boundaries, that's all."

"I have fun with Mommy!" Michelle squeaked.

"Aw, thank you, my sweet girl!" Misty cooed, clasping her hands together.

"Sorry, Mist," Ash apologized, frowning at his wife. "I didn't mean to make it sound like you _never_ let them have any fun."

Misty smiled sweetly at him. "It's alright. I know you didn't mean it that way. We just have different parenting styles, that's all. As long as we're in agreement on most things, and you understand that when I put my foot down, I'm just doing what I think is best for them, then it's fine."

Ash returned his wife's smile. "Yeah, you're right!"

 **XXX**

"Anyway, Misty found out I let the kids watch TV while they eat sometimes and she was ticked."

Brock, who had met up with Ash for lunch at the Pokémon Master's invitation, didn't look surprised. "You knew she wouldn't be happy about that."

"Yeah, but I can't help it that we do things differently!" Ash cried before tossing a fry in his mouth. He'd assured Misty that he was fine with them doing things differently, but it had still ended up gnawing at him all morning. He really _was_ fine with it, he just didn't understand why it was always him getting scolded for his methods. He understood Misty was a bit more serious, but he couldn't help it that he was more easygoing.

That was part of the reason Ash had reached out to Brock and asked him if he wanted to meet up. Brock was good at talking Ash through this kind of stuff. Plus, it never hurt to get a break from the Indigo Plateau, hence their meeting at a restaurant not too far from the compound.

"I thought she told you before she didn't want them doing that," Brock replied, stabbing at his salad.

"She did," Ash admitted, earning an unimpressed look from Brock. "But I thought it'd be harmless when she wasn't around! I _did_ tell Aiden and Michelle it had to be our little secret, but then Aiden went and let it slip."

"You also know Aiden and Michelle end up telling Misty everything," Brock chuckled, shaking his head. "Whether they intend to or not."

"I know, but it's hard," Ash grumbled.

"Because you both do things so differently?" Brock asked.

"Misty is the parent who makes them take vitamins and freaks out if they stay up past their bedtime," Ash elucidated. "But _I'm_ the parent who'll let 'em eat ice cream for breakfast and watch TV while they're doing it!"

Brock thought for a moment before stating, "Well, the good news is they need a little bit of both. So you two actually balance each other out pretty nicely."

"Maybe, but I think my way is more fun," Ash grumbled. Pikachu sighed at his trainer's indignant response and kept nibbling on a piece of his lunch.

"Right, but you can't be having fun all the time," Brock reminded his best friend, smirking at Pikachu's reaction. "Misty's correct in the fact that kids need boundaries. Otherwise they'll be walking all over you and wreaking havoc. But you can't be that strict with them all the time either. It's good to give kids a little bit of freedom and let them have fun. Finding a fine line between the two is the key!"

Ash groaned and sank back in his seat. "Being a parent isn't easy."

"No, not at all," Brock agreed. "It's good you acknowledge that, though!"

Ash raised an eyebrow at the implication. "Are there people out there who don't?"

"Oh, for sure."

Ash scoffed and sat back up straight. "If you asked me to choose between battling three legendary Pokémon at once with only one of my own Pokémon or getting the twins to bed, I'd choose the first one any day."

Brock chortled before asking, "and Misty?"

"Misty would tell you she'd fight the legendary Pokémon with her _bare hands_ before trying to get the kids to do something they don't want to do."

 **XXX**

By the time he made it back home that evening, Ash was pretty much over that morning's incident. His conversation with Brock had help him be more at peace with his and Misty's different parenting styles, and that it was okay for them to do things a little differently. He supposed it couldn't be all bad if Misty was more serious and he was more fun. After all, Brock was right; the kids did need both.

As soon as he opened the front door, however, Ash was greeted by a high pitched shriek. Pikachu's ears bent at the painful sound, while Ash unintentionally recoiled.

"What was _that?_ " He gasped.

Looking back inside, it appeared that Aiden and Michelle were both completely hyper and out of control. They were running circles around each other, tossing toys and laughing loudly and wildly. Misty was in the middle of it all, sitting on the floor and trying desperately to get the two to settle down while stuffed Pokémon flew over her head. She was using her stern, motherly voice (Ash knew it well…she used it on him quite a bit, too) but she also appeared very overwhelmed. Scowling, Ash stepped inside and closed the door loudly behind him. _That_ got the twins to stop and turn their attention onto their father. The slam, which had alarmed Misty, caused her to look towards him as well.

"Daddy!" Both children cheered, running over to him. Ash, while he was happy to see the two, kept the stern look on his face.

"Why aren't you two listening to Mommy?" Ash asked, skipping the pleasantries.

Aiden and Michelle's mouths opened at the inquiry, but nothing came out.

"I don't want to come home and see you two causing her trouble," Ash continued. He wasn't yelling, nor did he sound overly angry, but his tone was strict. "Understood?"

The twins silently nodded their heads.

"Good," Ash sighed, finally allowing a smile to appear on his face.

Feeling that things were back under control, Misty got to her feet and piped up, "Now that Daddy's home, I'm going to start working on dinner. You two can stay in here and play together while I get it ready. _Nicely_. Alright?"

"Yeah!" The twins giggled, running back over to their mother. Pikachu followed, intending to keep an eye on the children just in case they became unruly again. Fortunately, they had settled on the floor and were now playing much more quietly and calmly than they'd been before, just as Misty had requested.

Satisfied with that, Misty gently brushed past Ash and made her way into the kitchen. Ash followed after her, simply expecting to start a normal, end-of-day conversation with his wife.

"How did you do that?!"

Instead, he quickly learned that Misty was still stuck on what had just transpired in the living room.

"What, get the twins to calm down?" Ash asked, earning a nod from Misty. "Oh…I just got a little sterner with them. I do that when they won't listen or they're getting too crazy. It works great!"

Misty frowned as she touched the side of her face. "I don't get it. I tried the same thing, but it did nothing! And then I wasn't sure what to do…but you came in and stopped them right away."

"To be honest, I think it's because I goof around with them so much that when I get serious, they know to listen," Ash admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't know if that's a good thing or not."

Misty smiled, which bewildered Ash. "How come you're smiling?"

"Because you're cute," Misty stated bluntly. "It was a good thing today, and right now that's all I care about! Thanks for the assist."

Ash chuckled. "No prob! Anything to help you out, babe. Why were they so hyper, anyway? They're not normally _that_ crazy."

Misty looked sheepish as she confessed, "I let them have some cookies as a snack. I usually go for something healthier, but after you talked about letting them have more fun, I figured giving them a bit of a treat couldn't hurt. But I was wrong. _Really_ wrong."

Ash laughed. "They are a couple of sugar fiends! That would explain all of the bouncing off the walls."

"Well, at least you managed to calm them down," Misty sighed in relief.

A crashing sound suddenly came from the next room. Misty raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Ash, who couldn't help but to smirk at her.

"I'll go in there and do it again."

"Thanks, Ashy."


	52. First Class Fears

**The kids freaking Misty out on an airplane has always been a favorite of mine. Elizabeth's probably the best at it, as this chapter proves!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 9 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 3 years old**

* * *

 **First Class Fears**

"Lizzie, don't lie on the floor like that!"

The toddler picked only her head up, gazing at her older sister. "Why?"

"Cause it's gross," Michelle grumbled. "People are stepping on it all day with their dirty shoes and rolling their luggage all over it."

Elizabeth didn't seem bothered by such a fact. "Denny's got diwty shoes."

Michelle sighed and reached down, picking the little girl up beneath her arms. Elizabeth didn't protest and allowed her sister to pull her up onto her feet.

"Mommy and Daddy wanted me to keep an eye on you while they went to get something really quick," Michelle reminded her younger sister. "So that's what I have to do!"

Elizabeth giggled and nodded her head. She was very young, but she adored her older sister and could always tell when she should really be listening to her.

"Do you want to sit up here next to me?" Michelle asked, motioning towards the seat next to her that was currently occupied by a small backpack; Elizabeth's.

"Uh huh!" Elizabeth chirped.

Michelle picked Elizabeth up again, this time to sit her down next to her. Once she was seated, Elizabeth pulled her backpack onto her lap and unzipped the back compartment, digging through it.

"Are you looking for something?" Michelle questioned. Elizabeth didn't answer, however, and just keep her head down. Frowning, Michelle began to look around, taking in the surrounding sights of the gate. There were lots of people waiting to board the plane just like them, mostly adults, thought there were some kids. She didn't have much of a desire to socialize, however. Michelle was looking for one kid in particular, and when she didn't catch sight of them, she furrowed her brow, muttering to herself, "Where did he go?"

"I'm right here."

Michelle shrieked and jumped in her chair. Elizabeth finally looked up from her backpack, and the voice of the latest arrival started to laugh wildly. The older girl snarled, her eyes darkening. "Aiden!"

"Man, that was _so_ funny!" Aiden guffawed. "You should've seen your face! I wish I'd taken a picture of it."

"You're such a pain," Michelle growled, lowering her hands as they balled into fists. "And you're _supposed_ to be watching Lizzie with me!"

"Yeah, I know," Aiden slowly replied, scuffing the toe of his sneaker against the floor. "I just needed to do something. I wasn't gone that long."

"What did you need to do that was so important?" Michelle grumbled.

"I saw a Rufflet and I wanted to take a closer look at it," Aiden innocently explained.

Michelle blinked hard. "Seriously?"

"They're really rare here!" Aiden whined. "I got so excited when I saw it! Its owner was really cool too. He's a trainer from Unova and-"

"I don't care where he's from!" Michelle hissed. "That's a lame excuse, Aiden. Try _lying_ next time like you always do with a better reason."

"What?! I don't lie!" Aiden snapped.

"Yes you do," Michelle scoffed.

"No I don't!"

"You do!"

Elizabeth shifted her eyes back and forth, watching her older siblings argue. As she was looking between them, her eyes stopped in the middle when she saw something that sparked her interest.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Elizabeth squeaked.

Aiden and Michelle instantly stopped fighting and looked over their shoulders, finding that their parents were, in fact, walking towards them.

"Let's act like nothing happened," Michelle declared.

"Good idea," Aiden agreed.

"There are my sweethearts!"

Misty was beaming at the children, her eyes practically shimmering. "Was Lizzie good for you two?"

"Yeah, she was fine," Michelle assured her mother. "She's been pretty quiet, actually."

"Must be because she's hungry," Ash chuckled.

Someone's stomach growled, and Ash grinned almost goofily in response. Elizabeth, however, quickly pointed at her brother, who blushed.

"Um…guess I'm hungry too," Aiden admitted.

"No surprise there," Misty giggled. "It's a good thing we brought enough food back here for all of you!"

"Yes!" Aiden cheered. "I was hoping that's where you guys were going!"

"It's not a whole meal, just some snacks, but it should be enough to hold you over for now," Misty added.

Ash pulled a soft pretzel out of a paper bag in his hands and passed it over to Aiden. He then took out another one and gave it to Michelle.

"Thank you!" They both chirped.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, frowned and began to wiggle in her seat. "Hung-y! Hung-y!"

"Hey, it's okay!" Ash chuckled, retrieving a third pretzel. He ripped off a small piece and held it out towards the antsy toddler, who gave it a short look before taking the morsel and nibbling at it.

"I got juice for you too," Misty informed the toddler. "Do you want some?"

Elizabeth happily nodded her head, her mouth full of pretzel.

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu cheered from Ash's shoulder, hopping off to dig into one of the family's bags. He pulled out an empty sippy cup, holding it up towards Misty in his little paws.

"Thanks, Pikachu!" Misty giggled, kneeling down to take the cup. "You're such a big help!"

"Chu!"

"Wow, a sippy cup and everything, huh?" Ash marveled. "You're really going all out in this airport."

Misty shot her husband a side eye. "I can't trust her to not spill the whole bottle on herself."

"Oh, right, because she's a little kid," Ash mused.

"Well, yeah, but also because she's _your_ little kid," Misty teased, smirking at him.

Ash groaned and rolled his eyes. "You know, that joke stopped being funny when _Aiden and Michelle_ were little."

"I still think it's funny," Misty asserted, shrugging her shoulders before pouring some of the apple juice from its original container into the sippy cup. "Besides, I have to try and keep Lizzie as neat as possible. You know the whole 'flying first class with kids' thing makes me nervous."

"Still?" Ash chuckled.

"Come on, be serious," Misty whined, handing Elizabeth the sippy cup after making sure the top was twisted on good and tight. "It's bad enough to have all those rich snobs glaring at us because we're putting a bunch of kids in their special air space. I don't need them thinking I'm a lousy mother on top of it."

"No one thinks that," Ash assured her.

"They will if I bring on a kid covered in juice," Misty muttered.

"She's not even three years old," Ash laughed. "She's _supposed_ to be messy! She's not a robot baby. That'd be pretty cool though."

Misty playfully rolled her eyes as she stood back up to her full height. "Yeah, _we_ get that because we're normal people. The normal first class clientele is a different breed."

"Mowe?"

Ash and Misty turned their attention onto Elizabeth, who was holding onto her juice with one hand and pointing at the pretzel in her father's grasp with the other.

"Oh, sorry, pumpkin!" Ash chuckled, ripping off another piece of pretzel. "Of course you can have more!"

"Yay!" Elizabeth squealed, grabbing the piece and shoving the whole thing in her mouth, eliciting more laughter from her father.

"You're so cute," he crooned.

"Of course she is," Misty agreed with a giggle.

Michelle suddenly looked up from her pretzel, an eyebrow raised. "Hey, Lizzie, did you find what you were looking for before in your backpack?"

Ash inclined his head. "What do you mean, Shelly?"

"Elizabeth was going through her backpack before with some serious concentration," Michelle explained with a giggle. "I guess I'm just curious what she was so focused on!"

"Oh, that makes sense," Ash chuckled. "What was it, Lizzie?"

The little girl swallowed her latest bite of pretzel and smiled as she reached into her backpack, pulling out a stuffed version of one of her favorite _Magical Ponyta_ characters. She squeezed the toy's stomach, causing it to giggle while its pink mane and tail started to glow. The toy was surprisingly loud, and it had managed to catch the attention of a few other passengers nearby.

"Elizabeth, turn it off!" Misty cried urgently.

"I can't, Mommy!" Elizabeth giggled. "She has to stop on her own."

It seemed that a vein would appear in Misty's forehead at any given moment. "You really think they'd put an off switch on those kind of toys…"

Ash smirked at his wife before adding, "nah, because then they wouldn't be as annoying for the grown-ups, and that's no fun!"

"No kidding," Misty grumbled.

 _Now boarding Flight 1121 to Hoenn._

Misty blinked and glanced up towards the gate. "Oh, looks like we have to start getting ready to get on the plane."

Aiden swallowed the rest of his pretzel before letting out an excited whoop, grabbing his backpack and slinging it over one shoulder. "I can't _wait_ to get to Hoenn! Maybe I'll get to see some really cool Pokémon!"

"Right, because that Rufflet from before wasn't enough," Michelle grumbled, getting up from her seat and picking up her own bag.

"What?" Misty asked her daughter, raising an eyebrow as Aiden glared at his twin sister.

"Nothing," Michelle sighed, shaking her head.

Ash, meanwhile, tucked the rest of the soft pretzel back in its paper bag before smiling at his youngest daughter. "Okay, Lizzie, time to get going! Can you put your toy away and get your backpack on?"

Elizabeth happily nodded her head and stowed the now quiet Ponyta plush away in the back compartment of her bag, zipping it up and slipping the pale purple straps adorned by rose gold accents over her shoulders.

"What a big girl!" Ash complimented, picking her up in his arms.

Pikachu climbed up to his trainer's shoulder and licked Elizabeth's nose, eliciting joyful laughter from the young child.

"Alright, does everyone have everything?" Misty asked, carefully eyeing the other family members.

"Yep!" Aiden confirmed.

Ash took a survey of the seats that they had been occupying. "I don't see anything. I think we're good to go!"

They walked up to the gate, getting their boarding passes checked before entering the walkway that connected them to the plane.

"I call the window seat!" Aiden announced, throwing his hand up in the air.

"What?! No way!" Michelle cried. "Mom!"

"He _did_ call it first," Misty reasoned with her daughter, earning a pout from the girl. "You guys have to take turns! You're old enough to understand that, aren't you?"

"I guess," Michelle grumbled.

"You can have the window seat on the way back," Misty declared. "How's that?"

"Fine," Michelle sighed.

Misty groaned and squeezed the bridge of her nose, Ash watching her with a furrowed brow. "Man, you really _are_ stressed."

"I'd be way less stressed if Scott would just break down and book us seats that aren't first class," Misty grumbled.

"It's been 10 years and he hasn't given it yet, so I wouldn't bank on that happening any time soon," Ash replied.

"It was great when we didn't have kids," Misty continued. "I love these three more than anything, but they aren't always the best travelers, and I really could deal without the judgment of the elite."

Ash smirked, despite his wife's distress. "Don't let 'em phase you, Mist. I have to be around those kind of people all the time, and I never let them bother me! Just isn't worth it, you know?"

Misty grimaced and furrowed her brow as they walked closer to the entrance of the plane. "I wish I could be as carefree as you are. I'm just not built that way, unfortunately."

Ash blinked and tilted his head. "Built? You make it sound like you want to be a robot, like the rich people want our kids to be!"

Misty finally smirked herself and shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe it does sound kind of cool."

The family finally boarded the plane, heading towards their seats. Elizabeth, who was still in Ash's arms, locked eyes with an older woman who was already sitting down. The woman smiled at the little girl, who quickly returned the action.

"Here you go," Ash murmured, placing Elizabeth in the window seat. She didn't seem happy there, however, and quickly climbed over to the aisle seat, confusing her father. "Hey, what's up, Lizzie? Don't you want to sit next to the window?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "I wanna sit wif you and Mommy!"

"Well, one of us has to sit with Aiden and Michelle," Ash reasoned with her.

"You sit hewe," Elizabeth instructed, pointing at the seat right next to her before pointing at the next seat across the aisle. "Mommy sit hewe."

"Oh, you want to sit _between_ us," Ash breathed.

"Dat's what I said!" Elizabeth cried, raising her voice a bit too much for her parents' liking.

"Okay, okay!" Ash fussed, quickly inching into the aisle and sitting down beside his daughter. "That good?"

Elizabeth beamed and nodded.

"Good," Ash sighed, sinking deeper into his seat.

Aiden quirked an eyebrow at the conversation. "If Elizabeth isn't gonna take the window seat, can I?"

"No, buddy," Ash sighed. "One of us has to sit with her, just like one of us has to sit with you and Michelle."

"I can take care of Lizzie," Aiden offered.

Ash smirked at his son. "It's not that easy. Don't worry, Aiden; you'll get a window seat on the way home, just like Mom said!"

Aiden frowned and slunk back in his seat. Misty, on the other hand, let out a long breath and rested her head in her hand. "This is going to be a _long_ flight."

Luckily for them, Elizabeth was quiet for much of the early flight. Aiden and Michelle were too, but they were older and at this point, they knew better than to anger their mother on an airplane by misbehaving. It got to a point, however, when Elizabeth decided she was hungry again, and began begging Ash for more of the pretzel he and Misty had bought in the terminal.

Pikachu was quicker to work than his trainer, his small size helping in the cramped space of the plane. The electric type wiggled his way between Ash's legs and the seat in front of him, retrieving the brown paper bag in his teeth and carrying it up to Elizabeth.

"Yay!" Elizabeth squealed, Ash's eyes widening at the volume.

"Lizzie…" he tried.

"Hewe, Pikachu!" Elizabeth continued, interrupting her father as she pulled out the pretzel and tore off a piece to give to him.

"Chu!" Pikachu chirped, twitching his ears as he accepted the offering.

"Pikachu, you're not helping!" Ash quietly whined to his partner.

The mouse contemplated it for a moment before frowning, realizing his trainer was right. "Pika…"

"Don't worry about it," Ash assured the Pokémon, a sympathetic smile gracing his face. "I just don't want Misty to freak out any more than she already is. I'm sure she's over there clenching her jaw right now."

Pikachu turned his head to get a better look at the gym leader. She did, in fact, have her eyes on Elizabeth, and they still seemed to be filled with the same trepidation as before.

"Pi," Pikachu murmured.

"I wasn't nearly as worked up as her until we got on this plane," Ash grumbled. "Now every noise Elizabeth makes sounds like it's a hundred times louder than it actually is, and my nerves are shot."

Elizabeth suddenly giggled again, this time even louder before. The older woman who had smiled at the little girl when they first boarded the plane turned to look at her, and Ash's heart began to race.

"Lizzie…" He began.

"Daddy, I wanna pway wif Pinky!" Elizabeth cried.

"Shh," Ash hushed the girl, his eyes finally moving from the older woman back onto Elizabeth. "Quietly, Lizzie. What do you want?"

"Pinky," Elizabeth squeaked, her voice actually lowering.

Ash appeared confused. "What's Pinky?"

"My Ponyta!" Elizabeth exclaimed, pointing down at her backpack.

Ash sucked in a breath; his daughter was getting too noisy again. "Alright, you can have it. But don't squeeze it so it laughs, okay?"

"Okay," Elizabeth agreed, nodding her head.

Ash unzipped the girl's backpack and pulled the toy out, handing it to her. Elizabeth beamed and hugged the plush, tightly enough that it set off the obnoxiously loud sound chip inside of it. The stuffed Ponyta's high pitched laughter filled the plane, and Misty and the twins all whipped their heads towards Ash and Elizabeth.

"Not that thing again!" Aiden gasped.

"Mom's gonna _lose_ it…" Michelle warned in a sing song voice.

Ash was too afraid to look at the rest of his family. Instead, he glanced up and realized that the same older woman from before was looking at Elizabeth again, opening her mouth to utter what Ash assumed was going to be a complaint.

"She is just precious!"

That's all it took for Ash's heart to stop pounding in his ears. The woman's smile widened, looking up from Elizabeth to Ash.

"Oh…uh…thank you," Ash murmured. He wasn't used to people in first class complimenting him on his children. All he usually got was dirty looks.

"She reminds me of my granddaughter," the woman continued. "Such a happy little girl! And so well behaved."

"Well behaved?" Ash repeated, as if he couldn't believe what she'd just said.

The woman nodded her head. "A lot of people worry about bringing children on a plane, especially in first class, but I haven't heard a peep out of your daughter! She must be a very good traveler."

Elizabeth looked up at her father and grinned. Ash smirked at his young daughter and replied, "Yeah, she's pretty good at it."

Just as the older woman turned around, Misty raised an eyebrow at her husband. "Who are you talking to?"

"Just a fellow first class passenger who thinks Elizabeth is a perfect traveler," Ash replied, puffing out his chest.

Elizabeth stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth and turned to stare at her mother before announcing, "I'm the best!"

Misty sighed before smiling at her young daughter, suddenly feeling much more relaxed. "Yeah, but Daddy and I already knew that."


	53. Poké Life

**It's family game night! But, of course, someone is gonna end up not too happy. You might be surprised with who it is, though...**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 5 years old**

* * *

 **Poké Life**

"You know, you two have been _so good_ while we've been here, I think you should pick out a game we can all play together when we get home!"

Aiden and Michelle's eyes lit up as soon as their mother said that. Squealing delightfully, they began scurrying up and down the board game aisle, where they were already situated, looking over all of the boxes that surrounded them.

Misty smirked to herself and followed after the little ones. She thought it was so sweet how excited they got over the littlest things. Their innocence was really one of the most beautiful things she'd ever experienced.

"Let's get this one!" Aiden cried, pointing at a box that had images of candy all over it.

"We already have that one," Michelle reminded her brother.

"Oh," Aiden squeaked, lowering his hand.

Michelle hummed to herself and kept moving down the aisle, more slowly this time. Aiden followed closely behind, continuing to examine the board games lining the shelves.

"Lookit this one!"

Michelle had stopped suddenly, causing Aiden to walk into her. He looked up to where she was pointing, and noticed the box depicted people and Pokémon sitting inside of cars together and following a winding, colorful road.

"Cars!" Aiden gasped.

"It has lots of pretty colors!" Michelle added. "And look at all the different Pokémon!"

Misty caught up to her children and took a look at the game herself. "You guys like this one?"

"Yeah!" They both chirped.

She took the box off the shelf, her eyes scanning the front of it. " _Poké Life_ huh? This looks like a cute game…"

She flipped the box over to examine the back. It seemed silly, but she really had to look over these kinds of things to make sure they were _really_ appropriate for a pair of five year olds. One too many times, Ash had brought something home for the twins that he thought was cute (usually based solely on the packaging) and upon actually looking more deeply into what those things were…they were _definitely_ not meant for young kids.

This game, however, did seem pretty wholesome. She figured she could trust it enough…especially since she was never the one who accidentally bought inappropriate things for the twins.

"Okay, if this is the game you guys want, we'll get this one," Misty decided, smiling at the two as they cheered in response.

"And you and Daddy will play it with us?" Michelle asked excitedly.

"Of course!" Misty giggled. "I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun!"

 **XXX**

The twins basically broke down the front door when they and their mother got back to the house. Their sudden entrance caused Pikachu and Vaporeon to charge towards the door, growling and ready to attack. Once they realized it was just Aiden and Michelle, however, both relaxed and instead happily greeted the children.

"Ah, I was wondering why they settled down so quick!"

Ash came trampling down the stairs, immediately kneeling down so Aiden and Michelle could tackle him.

"You guys think you're stronger than me, huh?" Ash teased. They continued jumping at him, finally managing to knock him down just a bit. "Ugh, maybe you are!"

Aiden and Michelle both shrieked with laughter, trying to get their father down closer to the floor.

"Are you two torturing your daddy?"

The twins both laughed again and looked over their shoulders. "No, Mommy!"

"I would hope not after you were both so well behaved at the store," Misty mused, placing the shopping bags down at her feet.

"They were good?" Ash gasped playfully as he got to this feet. "Well, if that's not the _least_ surprising thing I've ever heard!"

"Yes, I know, you think they can do no wrong," Misty teased, crossing her arms.

"All kids do stupid stuff every once in a while," Ash elucidated. "Anyone who says their kids don't is a liar."

Misty smirked. "I see, so are _you_ a liar?"

"Hey, just because _I_ know it's a lie doesn't mean other people do," Ash chuckled, holding his arms out towards his wife to imply he wanted a hug.

"Ugh, are you all sweaty and gross?" Misty whined, making a face. He had a habit of trying to envelop her after a workout just to gross her out.

"No, I just showered!" Ash cried, plucking at his shirt. "Do I not smell like it?"

"I don't know, I was just messing with you," Misty purred, pressing a hand against the back of Ash's head to pull him closer and kiss him.

Ash eagerly kissed her back, placing one hand on her lower back and the other one cupping the bump of her belly.

"I think she got bigger since the last time I saw you," Ash whispered against her lips.

"You mean this morning?" Misty breathed. "I don't think so."

Ash hummed and started to kiss the side of Misty's neck instead, causing her to moan. "You know, I could see if my mom is free tonight…she could watch Aiden and Michelle and we could-"

Something suddenly pressed into Ash's ankle. Blinking, he looked down and realized Aiden was holding onto a box and jamming it against his leg.

"What's that, champ?" Ash asked, nodding towards the box.

"Game!" Aiden cried, holding it up so his father could see.

"I bought it for them because they were so well behaved while I got the shopping done," Misty explained. "And I told them we would all play it together."

Ash groaned and pulled his shoulders back. "I thought we were gonna have _grown up fun_ today!"

"I promised no such thing," Misty snickered. "You totally made that up."

"Daddy, we wanna play the game!" Aiden whined, shaking the box.

"Okay, okay, we'll play it," Ash hushed the boy. "But I think we have to open it first."

Aiden blinked and took another look at the box before holding it up. "Daddy, can you open it?"

Ash laughed and accepted the game from his son. "Yes, buddy."

Aiden grinned and turned towards his parents' partner Pokémon. "You guys can play with us too!"

"I don't know about that, sweetie, Vaporeon always tries to eat the pieces," Misty sighed, watching as Ash disappeared into the kitchen.

"Vay!" The bubble jet Pokémon proudly agreed.

Michelle's eyes suddenly lit up, and she suggested, "They can be on a team with us! That way we can move all the pieces and no one tries to eat them!"

"Pi-ka…" Pikachu grumbled.

"Something tells me Pikachu doesn't like being accused of eating the pieces," Misty giggled. "It's okay, Pikachu. We know it's only Vaporeon."

"Pi!" Pikachu squeaked cheerfully.

"Kay, I got that plastic wrap off," Ash announced, walking back into the foyer with the game box in his hands. "It sounds like there's a lot of pieces in here…I'm surprised you're cool with that, Mist."

"I didn't check," Misty plainly replied.

"Wait…what?" Ash deadpanned.

"I was too busy trying to make sure this game was actually _appropriate_ for a couple of five year olds," Misty explained, narrowing her eyes. "Something _you_ forget to do quite often, Mr. Pokémon Master."

"I've only made that mistake like one time," Ash grumbled.

"Seven," Misty corrected.

"But who's counting?" Ash teased.

"Mommy! Daddy! Let's play now!"

Aiden was tugging at both of his parents' legs, trying to move them into the living room.

"Okay, we're coming, little guy," Misty sighed, moving on her own.

They set up the board on the floor, which as Ash had said, had far more pieces than Misty was anticipating. There were little cars, little pegs to put _in_ the cars, paper money, several different stacks of cards, a spinner…

"I might have screwed up this time," Misty begrudgingly admitted, twisting her mouth once the multitude of pieces were finally in place.

"Thanks for admitting it," Ash chuckled. "Though I'll give you a pass this time and blame it on your pregnancy brain."

"Not a bad idea," Misty quipped.

"I wanna be the red car!"

"And I'm gonna be blue!"

Ash and Misty turned their heads, realizing the twins were now positioning their game pieces on the board.

"Man, we'd better stop talking and get to playing, before the kids start playing without us," Ash teased.

"You guys have to pick a car too," Aiden noted, pushing the remaining pieces forward. "Which ones do you want?"

Ash held his hand out towards Misty. "Ladies first."

"Aw, how sweet of you," Misty giggled. "I'll be green!"

Ash surveyed the remaining two pieces: white and orange. "Hmm…I guess I'll be orange!"

"Yay!" Michelle cheered. "Now everyone gets a little tiny person in their car!"

She held up four tiny pegs; two blue, and two pink, and then sat one in each little car piece. Once that was all set up, the four of them began to actually play the game, and that's when things quickly began to deteriorate.

It started when Ash became the first person to reach the marriage spot on the board. Michelle gleefully handed him a pink peg to put in his car, and quickly followed up with, "who are you marrying, Daddy?"

"Who?" Ash repeated, his eyebrow raising. "Is that part of the game? I have to say who?"

"No, I just made that up," Michelle giggled. "I think it's fun!"

"Oh," Ash breathed. "Well…I guess I'll marry Mommy!"

"Aww," Misty cooed, kissing her husband's cheek. "I'm glad to know you'd marry me even in a game!"

"Of course!" Ash chuckled.

When Michelle reached the spot next, she declared that she was going to marry the prince from her favorite mermaid movie. Misty giggled at her daughter's innocence, while Ash blushed a bit.

"It's not real, Daddy," Michelle reminded her father when she saw his cheeks were turning red.

"Yeah, I know that, princess," Ash laughed nervously. "Sorry, I don't mean to be so crazy!"

"It's okay," Michelle assured him. "I know it's –cause you love me!"

"You're right, it is," Ash confirmed, his smile widening.

Misty was the third to reach the spot, and quickly said, "Well, if Daddy married me, then I'm going to marry him too!"

Ash beamed, but that expression quickly faded when Michelle cried, "pick someone else!"

"Huh?" Ash muttered, looking confused.

"How come I have to pick someone else, Shelly?" Misty asked.

"Cause Daddy already picked you," Michelle explained. "So you have to pick someone else!"

"Is that in the rules too?" Ash asked, picking up the instruction manual.

"No Daddy, I made it up!" Michelle squeaked. "I told you that!"

"Oh, okay," Misty murmured, tapping her chin. "If I really have to pick someone else, then I guess I'll go with…Fiorello Cappuccino."

Ash's blush intensified. "Him? Seriously?"

"You know you're my first choice," Misty tried soothing him, placing her hand on his thigh.

"Yeah, but why'd you have to pick him?" Ash complained. "Isn't he a little old for you?"

"Maybe, but he's still very handsome."

"Misty!"

"Oh, Ash, don't get jealous! It's just a silly little game."

"You wouldn't be saying the same thing if I was picking a different woman to marry in this 'silly little game'…"

Misty shrugged her shoulders. "You picked me first! I can't help that. At least in your car we're married."

Ash was still pouting over Misty's choice. During this time, it was Aiden's turn to move his car, and he at last reached the marriage space as well. "Finally!"

"Aiden, who are you gonna marry?" Michelle asked excitedly.

"A sandwich!" Aiden replied, his eyes lighting up.

Ash, Misty, and Michelle all sat in silence. Unaffected by their strange looks, Aiden rested his head in his hands and mused aloud, "it'll be the tastiest sandwich ever."

 **XXX**

"Mommy had a baby girl!"

Misty raised an eyebrow as she glanced down at her round stomach. "This game is getting a little too real."

"Yeah, except for you marrying Fiorello…" Ash muttered.

"My turn!" Michelle called, reaching out to spin. She got a three, and when she moved that many spaces, she landed on one that indicated a Pokémon adoption. "Oh, yay! I want a Growlithe!"

She plucked a green peg with floppy ears and stuck it in her car.

"I hope I don't get that," Aiden muttered as he took his turn to spin. "I already have a Growlithe _and_ a Skitty! There's not gonna be any more room in my car."

Fortunately for the boy, he avoided that space. When it was Ash's turn to go next, he landed on a space that instructed him to pick a card. He did so, and read aloud, "Your Pokémon hurt its paw and has to visit the Pokémon Center. Pay $50."

"Ooh, that's too bad," Michelle breathed.

"Wait, do I really have to pay this?" Ash asked, looking incredulous.

"Yeah, the card says so," Aiden replied.

"But I don't even _have_ a Pokémon in my car!" Ash cried.

"Daddy, you gotta listen to the card," Aiden sighed.

Ash growled and picked up the instructions again, flipping through them. "No way, there's gotta be something in here that says you don't have to pay for what you don't have!"

"Oh Ash, just pay the money," Misty huffed.

"Why am I gonna pay for a non-existent Pokémon?!" Ash hissed.

"Because the card says so," Misty answered.

Ash groaned and buried his face in his hands. "This game doesn't make any sense."

 **XXX**

"Alright, hang on a second. Why do you get paid for having kids? That's not a real thing!"

"In this game it is, apparently."

"No one has _ever_ paid us for having kids! We're usually paying other people _because_ we have kids…"

Aiden and Michelle snickered as their father continued to freak out. He'd been taking the game a little too seriously, and had been getting repeatedly frustrated over almost every aspect of it. At this point, that was almost more fun for them than playing the actual game.

"You're just mad because you didn't have any kids," Misty challenged, pointing at Ash's relatively empty car. It was occupied by only two pegs; the ones that were supposed to represent him and Misty.

"Well I _wanted_ kids, but apparently this game doesn't care about what you want!" Ash cried. "I mean, seriously, Aiden married a _sandwich_ and _they_ had kids!"

"They're cheese, pickle, and tomato," Aiden stated proudly, pointing at each of the three additional pegs in his car.

Ash looked positively dumbfounded, which led Misty to giggle.

"I can't take any of this seriously," Ash muttered, shaking his head.

Misty smirked and sidled up closer to Ash. "You are _so_ cute when you get all frustrated like this."

"Let's see how cute you think I am when I tear all my hair out," Ash grumbled.

Misty pressed a kiss against her husband's cheek. "Please don't do that."

"So…are we all done?" Ash sighed, casting a rather nasty glare the board game.

"Not quite," Misty replied. "We've all got to count up our money first. That's how we'll know who won the game!"

"Mommy, Daddy, Aiden can't count his money."

Ash and Misty both sighed and glanced at their son. He had combined all of the colorful paper money, and had his tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth as he examined the stack.

"Sweetie, what are you doing?" Misty asked kindly.

"I'm rich, Mommy!" Aiden announced.

"Really?" Ash chuckled, his mood managing to improve. "How much money do you have, champ?"

"A hundred million dollars," Aiden breathed, his eyes sparkling as he fanned the bills out.

Ash let out a shallow breath. "Oh Arceus."

"Hey, after the 'marrying a sandwich' shtick, this isn't so bad," Misty scoffed. "Come here, baby, let me help you with all that money."

Aiden crawled forward and settled himself next to his mother, holding the bills up to her.

"No, you come closer!" Misty playfully growled, lifting the wildly laughing boy onto her lap. "Ugh, you are just the cutest little boy in the whole entire world!"

Aiden continued giggling as he leaned against Misty, watching as she carefully leafed through his paper money. Michelle, meanwhile, realized it was a bit too much for her to count as well. She was a smart little girl, but these were numbers beyond _any_ five year old's comprehension.

"Daddy," Michelle whined.

"What's up, princess?" Ash asked, finishing up counting his own money.

"I can't count mine either," Michelle admitted, sounding dejected.

"It's okay!" Ash assured her. "I'll count it for you. Just let me finish mine, okay?"

Michelle nodded and crawled closer to her father, offering him her stack. Ash completed counting his and mentally memorized the number before getting to work on Michelle's.

"Alright, Aiden and I are all set!" Misty announced, throwing down her money before wrapping her arms around her young son. "Right, buddy?"

"Yeah!" Aiden cheered.

"How much do you two have?" Misty asked, shifting her gaze between Ash and Michelle.

"Well, I have $950,000," Ash recited, just finishing counting Michelle's money as his face fell. "And Shelly has $1,250,000."

Michelle beamed. "Yay, I beat Daddy!"

"You beat me too," Misty sounded genuinely impressed. "I had $1,050,000."

Ash's eyes darkened. "Seriously? You also got more than me?"

"Seems like it," Misty giggled. "Aiden, why don't you tell everyone how much you had?"

Aiden blinked and glanced up at his mother. "How much was it again, Mommy?"

Misty smirked and lowered her head to whisper in her son's ear. Aiden listened intently before slowly reciting, "$1,500,000."

Michelle and Ash both paled. "Misty, is he kidding? Did he just make that number up?"

"No," Misty started to laugh, shaking her head. "He really had that much money. I couldn't believe it!"

"Does that mean Aiden wins?" Michelle groaned.

"It does indeed," Misty giggled as Aiden excitedly threw both of his hands up.

"I'm the champion!" Aiden declared.

"Good job, little man!" Misty cooed, lifting the boy up to kiss him all over his face. "Mommy's so proud of you!"

Ash was suddenly boiling again. "This whole game is based on luck! There's literally no skill involved!"

Misty smirked as she stood Aiden up beside her, gently squeezing his sides. "Daddy's just jealous he lost."

"Yeah, I am!" Ash cried, not even bothering to argue with his wife.

Michelle took a moment to think about it before deciding, "Mommy, I don't care that I lost. I really like this game!"

"I'm so glad!" Misty giggled. "You had fun playing together?"

"Uh huh," Michelle confirmed. "I love when we play stuff all together, Mommy!"

"Me too!" Aiden agreed.

Misty cooed and looked over at her husband. "Ash, isn't that sweet? Our kids were just happy they got to play with us!"

Once again, Ash's irritation dissipated. "I loved getting to play together too! Even if this game doesn't make a ton of sense…"

Michelle let out a short laugh and threw herself at her father, giving him a big hug. Ash smirked and placed a hand on the back of her head, craning his neck to give her a kiss on the forehead.

"I think it's nap time for you kiddos," Misty sighed, stretching her arms over her head. "Sound good?"

"No, Mommy, I'm not tired," Aiden whined.

"You'll get tired once your head hits the pillow," Misty teased.

"Nuh uh," Aiden refuted.

"Then why don't I read you two a pre-nap story?" Misty asked. "Would you like that?"

Aiden thought about it before replying, "I _guess_ so…"

Misty snickered and ruffled her son's hair. "You two head upstairs, okay? I'll be there in just a minute."

Aiden and Michelle slowly made their way towards the stairs, ambling up the steps while their parents watched after them. Once both children were out of sight, Misty turned towards a surprised Ash and gently grabbed his face, pulling it in to plant a deep, sensual kiss against his lips.

"Thanks for entertaining the twins with me," Misty whispered against his mouth, breaking their kiss.

"No problem," Ash breathed, sounding entranced.

"We're gonna play a game you like a _whole_ lot better once I get those two down for their naps," Misty added, running a finger down his chest. "One that you can't lose."

Ash grinned and placed his hands on the sides of his wife's pregnant belly. "Thank Arceus my real life is a _whole_ lot better than whatever just happened in that dumb game."


	54. A Mother's Work

**I've really fallen off the writing wagon, which is driving me crazy! So I wanted to be able to get something up. This one was already written, but I was able to go back in and edit which was helpful and put me in more of a writing mood!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 6 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 3 months old**

* * *

 **A Mother's Work**

"You're sure it's no big deal?"

"Oh my gods, Misty."

"I'm serious! I don't want it to be too much for you!"

"I _know_ how to take care of your kids! Besides, it's no big deal anyway. They're such little angels!"

Misty seemed uncertain, but nevertheless handed over the baby in her arms to her oldest sister. The little one was still asleep at the moment, but Misty could pretty much guarantee it wouldn't last long.

"You know what to do when she wakes up, right?" Misty asked, a twinge of anxiety evident in her voice.

"I think you mean _if,_ " Daisy sniffed.

Misty felt her eye twitch. "She's going to wake up! I'm telling you! So do you know what you need to do?"

"Yeah, feed her," Daisy replied absentmindedly, gently rubbing the baby's nose.

"I won't be gone long," Misty continued. "I'm just going for a quick run! So-"

"The longer it takes you to leave, the later you're going to get back," Daisy interrupted, shooting her youngest sister a wry look.

Misty appeared ready to argue, but she suddenly changed face and decided to back down. "Fine. Just keep an eye on Aiden and Michelle, and an ear out for Elizabeth."

"Will do," Daisy sighed, though she was now smirking.

Finally smiling, Misty turned and walked briskly out of the gym, Vaporeon following closely behind. She liked going for her runs, but she _didn't_ like being away from her kids. It was bad enough when she was working, and even then they were always either somewhere else in the gym or right next door in the house. But Misty loved her job, she loved being a gym leader, and she couldn't imagine ever giving it up, even if she did feel guilty sometimes.

Standing on the white bridge that hovered above the gym's mote, Misty did a couple of stretches in order to warm her muscles up. Vaporeon did her own as well, much to her trainer's amusement.

"You're so cute!" Misty crooned to her partner, who flicked her large, webbed ears in response. Misty giggled, knowing it was the bubble jet Pokémon's way of saying _I know._ "All stretched out?"

"Vay!" Vaporeon confirmed.

"Alright, let's go!" Misty called.

She ran over the bridge, Vaporeon right by her side. The two crossed the bridge over to the large stretch of concrete lined by trees and lampposts, darting down the entire length before reaching the end where it split into two different directions. Knowing the path she wanted to take by heart, Misty turned onto the road to the right, continuing down that way. She and Vaporeon soon made their way into downtown Cerulean, running past the various shops and restaurants the area had to offer. It was still relatively early in the morning, but there were some people out and about, many of whom both knew and adored Misty and Vaporeon. They would happily and quickly greet the gym leader and her Pokémon, not wanting to keep them from their morning exercise. After all, they knew just how hard the both of them worked and how dedicated they were. Misty was appreciative of all of this and was sure to return the favor with her own quick greeting.

Misty's favorite part of her run, however, was the loop she'd take around the water. She was separated from it by a railing, but she could still hear it lap against the surrounding concrete and feel the cool breeze blow through her hair. Vaporeon, of course, loved it as well, especially when she'd get sprayed with a few stray drops of water.

The two wound up at Cerulean's Pokémon Center, slowing up to a stop. Vaporeon was panting, and Misty giggled tiredly as she knelt down to pet the Pokémon's head.

"I think we should both get some water," Misty decided, sounding only slightly winded. "Come on!"

She stood back up and walked towards the glass doors of the Pokémon Center, which slid open as soon as she got close enough. Vaporeon followed after her, more slowly than before, and continued until they reached the counter. Nurse Joy was behind it, and had been working on something, but looked up when she realized someone was approaching. As soon as she saw Misty, a big smile appeared on her face. The two women were good friends; Nurse Joy had begun working at the center not long after Misty had become gym leader, so they had built up a nice relationship over the years.

"Good morning, Misty!" The nurse greeted cheerfully. Leaning over the counter, she added to the gym leader's partner, "morning, Vaporeon!"

"Vay!" Vaporeon returned.

"Good morning to you too!" Misty replied.

"Did you two just finish your morning run?" Nurse Joy asked.

"We sure did!" Misty breathed. "And we were both looking for some water…"

"Of course!" Nurse Joy chirped. "I'll go grab some."

"Thank you," Misty returned, giving the nurse a small bow.

Nurse Joy scurried down a hallway just behind the desk and quickly returned with two bottles of water. Reaching under the counter, she pulled out a bowl and twisted open one of the bottles, pouring about half of it in.

"Here you are!" Nurse Joy declared.

"Oh, you're the best!" Misty cheered, grabbing the bowl first and placing it on the floor. Vaporeon wasted no time in sticking her head in, taking long laps at the chilled water. "Okay, so you were _really_ thirsty! Guess I'll need to pour the other half of that water bottle sooner rather than later."

"I have plenty more in the back," Nurse Joy assured her. "You two can have as much water as you want!"

Vaporeon looked up from her nearly empty bowl and mewled, "pore!"

"Hey, finish the first bottle and _then_ we'll ask for more," Misty snickered. She opened up her own bottle and began to drink from it just as dramatic music began playing from the TV. Still sipping from the bottle, Misty turned towards the large flat screen situated on the right hand wall.

 _Welcome to Trainer Insider!_

Misty raised an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder. "Nurse Joy, you watch this kind of stuff?"

"Me? Oh, no," Nurse Joy refuted, waving her hand. "Some of the trainers who were staying here last night put it on. I usually find Trainer Insider to be nothing but petty gossip."

"That's a nicer description than I would've used," Misty scoffed. "I think it's pure garbage."

" _Let's start off today's episode with our favorite subject: Pokémon Master Ash Ketchum!"_

Misty finished taking another long sip of water and rolled her eyes. "I'm convinced that without Ash, these people would have nothing to talk about. Let's see which actress he's cheating on me with this week."

" _He's the most successful trainer in the world, and quite possibly the most handsome. And everyone knows he's married to the Cerulean City gym leader, Misty. But what everyone is wondering is why she_ still _wants to_ be _a gym leader."_

" _That's right, Melissa. Now that the couple has three children, people believe Misty should give up her job to stay at home with them. We all know that a gym leader doesn't make the same kind of money the Pokémon Master does. Those two certainly won't be wanting for anything if Misty does step down!"_

" _Not to mention those kids are probably unsettled at best with the jobs their parents have. We do see Misty out and about with them, but she's obviously not with them all day if she's battling. And Ash's schedule is beyond hectic! We're not even sure how often he sees his kids."_

" _That's got to be exhausting for Misty. Why have the burden of being a gym leader on top of it?"_

The TV suddenly turned off. Misty blinked without turning away from it, while Nurse Joy, who had made her way over to the couch in front of the screen, sighed and lowered the remote to her side. "I'm sorry, Misty. If I had known-"

"It's okay," Misty replied robotically. "You couldn't have. But…people are actually talking about that?"

"I suppose so," Nurse Joy murmured, placing the remote down on the side table beside the couch. "I haven't heard such things, but I doubt anyone in Cerulean would even consider something so ridiculous. You know people just love to get involved in everyone else's business; you shouldn't listen to any of that. You're a wonderful gym leader _and_ a great mother! No reason to choose between the two."

"I guess…" Misty grumbled.

Nurse Joy frowned as she glanced at the gym leader. "Misty, are you alright?"

The redhead took in a deep breath and forced a big smile on her face. It was fake, but she could sell it. "Yeah, just fine! But I should probably be getting back to the gym. Trainers will start coming by soon for battles."

At first, Nurse Joy didn't seem convinced, but she finally relented and nodded her head. "That's true. Enjoy the rest of your day!"

"Thanks, you too," Misty breathed, turning on a heel and waving down at her partner. "Come on, Vaporeon."

The bubble jet Pokémon mewled uncertainly, sensing her trainer's mood was off. Still, she got to her paws and followed after the young woman, not taking her eyes off of her for the entire walk back.

 **XXX**

Back at the gym, Aiden and Michelle were playing with Daisy in the lobby, while Elizabeth continued to sleep nearby in a bouncy seat. The two older kids and their aunt were engaged in a board game, which Daisy was finding a bit perplexing.

"I don't get why I have to go backwards," Daisy whined as she moved her piece back two spaces.

"Cause that's what the card said, Aunt Daisy!" Aiden cried.

"Yeah, but why?" Daisy continued. "It said my Growlithe ran away and I had to go look for him, but I don't even _have_ a Growlithe in my car!"

"The card thinks you do," Michelle replied.

Daisy huffed and crossed her arms. "This game is weird."

"My turn!" Aiden announced, throwing his arm up in the air before twisting the spinner.

"Shh," Daisy gently hushed her nephew. "We don't want to wake up Elizabeth!"

"Oh," Aiden squeaked, looking over at his little sister. "Sorry!"

"You're fine," Daisy giggled.

The doors to the gym suddenly slid open, catching the attention of Daisy and the twins. Misty had just walked in, her face bright red and her eyes narrowed, her hands balled into fists at her sides. Vaporeon was still watching her intently, a look of concern on her face. That same look was soon plastered on the faces of Aiden, Michelle, and Daisy as well.

"Um, Misty…are you…okay?" Daisy asked tentatively.

"I'm fine," Misty spat out, a bit too quickly and forcefully.

"Really?" Daisy prodded. "Because you look ready to kill someone."

Misty sucked in a long breath, ready to fire off another retort, but she stopped short once she saw Aiden and Michelle's concerned faces. Letting go of that breath, Misty could begin to feel her skin slowly come down from its near furious red hue. "I'm fine, honest."

That being enough for the twins, the two young children ran up to their mother and attached themselves to her legs.

"Mommy, we're so happy you're back!" Michelle giggled.

"Yeah, we missed you!" Aiden added.

Calm immediately washed over Misty. For the first time since she'd seen that stupid television report, she flashed a genuine smile and knelt down to hug her older children.

"You two are so sweet," Misty cooed, nuzzling their foreheads before pulling away. "Were you good for Aunt Daisy while I was gone?"

"Uh huh!" They both chimed.

"We were playing our favorite game!" Michelle added, pointing at the board game set up on the floor.

Misty peered around her daughter to look at the game. " _Poké Life_? Oh, that is your favorite!"

"It doesn't make much sense to me," Daisy commented, shaking her head.

"I think it's cute, but it drives Ash nuts too, so I guess I can understand," Misty giggled. "And Elizabeth?"

"Didn't wake up once," Daisy boasted, smirking at her stunned sister.

"Seriously?" Misty deadpanned.

"Seriously," Daisy confirmed. "That baby is like Sleeping Beauty!"

"Oh, I hope she's not getting sick," Misty fretted. "She should've woken up hungry by now!"

As if she'd heard her mother in her sleep, Elizabeth began to softly mumble and open her eyes. The baby whined as she rubbed her tiny fists against her cheeks, slowly stretching herself out as her murmurs turned to whimpers.

"I guess she was just waiting for you!" Daisy trilled.

Misty smirked and stood up, walking over to the baby and lifting her out of her bouncy seat. "Hello, sweetie! Are you hungry?"

Elizabeth quieted almost instantly, and began to smile instead. Misty hummed happily and nuzzled the baby's forehead, just as she'd done to Aiden and Michelle only minutes before.

"Mommy, can Michelle and I go play in the playroom?" Aiden suddenly squeaked, scurrying up to his mother.

"Of course, baby, you don't have to ask!" Misty giggled. "You two have fun!"

The twins both bolted in the direction of the playroom. As soon as they were out of earshot, Daisy whipped her head around towards Misty and demanded, "So seriously, what was with your mood when you came back here?"

"How many times do I have to tell you nothing?" Misty sighed, holding a babbling Elizabeth against her.

"I know you think I'm dumb, but I'm not," Daisy bit. "At least not _that_ dumb. I haven't seen a look on your face like that one in a long time. You only get it when you're _really_ pissed off. So obviously something happened while you were gone."

Misty appeared offended. "Why did something have to happen? Maybe my face was just really red because I was running. Did that cross your mind?"

"Sure, but not the rest of it," Daisy pressed, motioning towards her sister's face. "Running will make you red. It won't make you look like your arch enemy just lit your car on fire and left you to deal with the mess."

The offended look quickly transformed into one of bewilderment. "That was weirdly specific."

"I've been reading through some new movie scripts lately," Daisy casually supplied.

"I don't recommend signing on to whichever one that was," Misty replied.

"Don't change the subject!" Daisy cried, causing Misty to wince. "I know something's up."

Misty visibly softened a bit, but still kept her mouth shut.

"I'm only trying to help you," Daisy continued, her voice becoming gentler. "You _are_ my baby sister, and I do still worry about you. I know you really don't need anyone taking care of you, and whenever you decide you do, it's Ash. But he's not here right now, so I'm just looking out for you. Unless…you want me to call him up and tell _him_ …"

Misty's eyes widened. "Daisy, no! Don't you dare!"

"I knew it!" Daisy hissed. "This is obviously really bugging you if you don't even want your _husband_ to know about it! So, spill."

She still didn't want to say anything, but at this point, Misty knew she was backed into a corner, and she'd never get Daisy off her back if she didn't tell her. And she _definitely_ didn't want Ash to get involved. "I stopped by the Pokémon Center after the run to get some water for me and Vaporeon. _Trainer Insider_ was on the TV and they had some dumb opinion piece about me that just got on my nerves."

"Was it about Ash cheating on you with some model again?" Daisy groaned.

"No, I know better than to let that nonsense bother me at this point," Misty sighed. "It was…they were saying that it doesn't make any sense for me to be a gym leader anymore. That I don't spend enough time with my kids and that I'm messing them up because of it."

"Oh," Daisy breathed, her eyes falling to the floor. "That's a new one."

"It was awful," Misty muttered. "I love being a gym leader, Dais, and I don't ever want to give it up. But…if people really think I'm a bad mother…then that bothers me. A lot."

"Except they don't know you," Daisy reminded her youngest sister. " _I_ know how much you love your kids, and how good of a mother you are! I mean, you built an entire _playroom_ in the gym just so you could keep them near you while you work. And even when they're not here, you only leave them with people you absolutely trust, who you know love them and care for them just as much as you do."

"That's true…" Misty trailed off.

Daisy smirked and shook her head. "You know, for a girl who's always bragged about how confident she is, those gossip rags really know how to get under your skin."

"Sometimes that confidence is just a façade," Misty admitted, turning her head away to try and hide the blush that had reappeared on her face.

"Is that why you don't want to tell Ash?" Daisy asked.

"No, not really," Misty sighed. "It's not like he's never seen me be vulnerable. He actually probably has the most experience out of anyone with that at this point. I'm more worried about the fact he's so protective of me, and if he gets wind that someone referred to me as a bad mother, he might just go down to that studio and fight someone."

Daisy thought about it for a moment before prodding, "would you actually be against that?"

"Of course not," Misty finally laughed. "I just don't think it's in his best interest. Or mine. Or anyone's, really."

"I don't know, I've always found it very sexy when a man goes to bat for me," Daisy purred.

"Does Tracey do that?" Misty asked.

"Please, we all know I'm the one with the backbone in this relationship," Daisy scoffed. "I love him, but he's too sweet and soft for his own good."

Misty smirked and shook her head, readjusting Elizabeth in her arms. "Well, thanks for making me feel better, Dais. You've gotten pretty good at that!"

Daisy rose her blonde eyebrows in interest. "Am I better at it than Ash?"

"Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves."

 **XXX**

That night, Misty was sitting in bed, her legs bent with Elizabeth laying on her thighs. She was holding onto the baby's hands, singing to the little girl as she gently moved her arms up and down. Elizabeth was smiling in response, which in turn had Misty smiling. Yet, the stupid report from _Trainer Insider_ before was still weighing heavily on her mind. She hated that it was still bothering her so much, even after Daisy had talked her down earlier.

Misty only looked up from her young daughter when she heard footsteps. Fortunately for her, they belonged to Ash, who was just now coming home from a long day at the Indigo Plateau.

"Hey," Misty greeted casually, looking back down at the baby when she let out a shrill noise.

"Hey," Ash returned, watching as Pikachu jumped off his shoulder and onto the bed so he could greet Elizabeth with some sniffs and licks. "I thought you'd be asleep by now."

"Me too," Misty laughed weakly. "But Lizzie had other plans."

Ash frowned. "She fussy?"

"A little?" Misty didn't sound totally confident. "She just doesn't want to stay in her crib. I kept trying to put her down, but every time I walked out she'd start crying. Eventually I decided it wasn't worth it to keep doing that, so she's been in here with me ever since. She's been really calm, happy even, but she is _wide_ awake."

Ash chuckled and crawled onto the bed, picking the baby up to cradle her. "You want to party, don't you?" He cooed, rubbing his nose against hers. "Maybe she senses you're stressed. Babies are good at that kind of stuff."

Misty raised an eyebrow. "Why would I be stressed?"

"I don't know," Ash murmured, shrugging his shoulders. "I thought maybe that dumb story they ran on TV today."

Misty's face paled. She didn't look up at Ash, but he was smirking at her.

"H-how'd you know about that?" Misty stammered. "Did you see it?"

"Nah," Ash refuted. "Lance told me."

"Right, your work husband," Misty scoffed. Then, only half-jokingly, she added, "How many members of your Elite Four needed to hold you back?"

"Only half," Ash replied. He was _fully_ joking, as evidenced by his bouncy tone and now widened smile.

"I didn't want you to know," Misty groaned, burying her face in her hands.

"Why?" Ash asked, his teasing smirk disappearing when he realized Misty was truly bothered by the subject.

"Because it was embarrassing," Misty grumbled, narrowing her eyes as she brought her knees into her chest. "And I thought you'd get pissed and try to attack someone over it. Although, right about now, I wouldn't be opposed to that…"

"Wow, you really think I'm a hothead, don't you?" Ash snickered.

"Only when it comes to me," Misty sighed.

"That's fair," Ash relented. "But honestly, I wasn't gonna waste my time on that nonsense. I know how ridiculous and far from true it is. I kind of think it's a big waste of time to get all upset over something I know isn't real."

Misty blinked, absorbing Ash's words. "That's…very wise of you, Ash."

Ash beamed at his wife's compliment. He did enjoy it when she boosted his ego a bit, but even more so when he knew she was being completely genuine and appreciated his outlook on such matters.

"I think you know deep down that it's garbage, too," Ash added.

"Of course I do," Misty scoffed. "But it doesn't hurt any less to hear someone say it, and then to know that there are some idiots out there who will think it's true. I think being a parent is the hardest job in the world. Even harder than being a gym leader…or even the Pokémon Master. What do you think?"

"I agree 100 percent," Ash chuckled, grinning at Elizabeth when she cooed at him. "But it's worth it!"

"Exactly!" Misty exclaimed. "I put so much effort into being a mom. I want our kids to be happy, and to have nice lives. Whenever I see a smile on their adorable little faces, or the sparkle in their big, wide eyes…it makes everything _so_ worth it. And for anyone to think otherwise just makes my blood boil. I wish I could just let it go as well as you do."

"I know, but that's not who you are," Ash reasoned with her. "And that's okay. Whenever something like this is bothering you, you _should_ talk to me about it. I don't want you to change who you are, Mist. I just wanna help you out when you _do_ feel that way!"

Misty blushed and, for the first time since starting the conversation, smiled. "Daisy tried, but she's no you."

"Huh?"

Misty giggled and looked over at Ash, who appeared confused. "I just love you, that's all. A lot."

Ash gave Misty one of his signature, lopsided grins. "I love you a lot too! Hey, now that you're less stressed, maybe Lizzie will finally start to go to sleep!"

The baby blew a bubble out of her mouth and began to shriek with laughter, excitedly flailing her arms up and down.

"Or not…" Ash sighed.

"What did we say?" Misty prodded. "Hardest job in the world!"


	55. Christmas Lights

**I'm a day late on the Christmas one shot...and I'm still working on Aiden and Michelle's birthday one. I've been so busy and keep running out of time! But I'm glad I finally got this one finished to share with you all!**

 **Aiden: 12 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 6 years old**

* * *

 **Christmas Lights**

Elizabeth Ketchum stared up at the sky, watching a flock of Pidgey fly by. They were probably looking to travel someplace warmer, even though the weather hadn't gotten too bad in Cerulean yet. Professor Oak had taught her that bird Pokémon tended to do that in the winter.

She herself didn't mind the cold so much. In particular, Elizabeth really liked when it snowed. It was fun to go sledding and ice skating, and to build snow people and Pokémon! Her mother hated it, that Elizabeth knew for a fact. She wished it could be warm all the time. But Elizabeth couldn't imagine that, especially at this time of the year when they had the best holiday in the whole entire world to look forward to.

Christmas!

Suddenly remembering what she was supposed to be doing, Elizabeth ran over to her father, who was crouched behind a bush.

"Need help, Daddy?" Elizabeth chirped.

Ash poked his head out, and despite the look of frustration on his face, sweetly replied, "not yet, pumpkin."

Elizabeth twisted her mouth and scurried to the other side of the bush, where she saw a tangle of lights sitting in the dirt.

"Ugh, why won't they light up?!"

Ash had been repeatedly plugging the lights in, but they simply wouldn't turn on. He pulled out the plug and shook it before putting it back in its place, grimacing when the lights stayed dim.

Blinking, Elizabeth knelt down by the knot, being careful not to get her knees in the dirt. Grabbing the large mass, she started tugging at the wires, trying to loosen it up. It didn't take her too long to untangle the lights, and as soon as they were freed, the colored bulbs flickered to life.

Ash gasped excitedly as Elizabeth stood back up and scurried towards her father. "You did it, Daddy!"

He chuckled and inclined his head. "Yeah, I guess I did! I don't know how, though…"

"Oh, good! You got those lights working!"

Misty came striding over towards Ash and Elizabeth, Vaporeon following closely at her feet.

"Yep!" Ash confirmed. "Somehow!"

Elizabeth smirked and glanced over at her mother, who missed the look.

"I was starting to worry we were going to have to run out to buy more lights," Misty sighed.

"Not if I can help it!" Ash declared, jumping to his feet. He didn't realize how close he was to the extension cord, however, and wound up tripping over it.

"Ash, be careful!" Misty groaned. "We don't want to be making any trips to the hospital, either."

"I'm good," Ash assured her, pushing himself up and out of the dirt. "Hey, I thought you were going to get Aiden and Michelle."

"I tried, but they're both still asleep," Misty grumbled.

"Man, I know travelling can wear them both out, but I was hoping they'd help us out," Ash fretted. "They used to love working on the lights!"

"That's okay," Elizabeth suddenly piped up, both of her parents turning their attention onto her. "I'm here! I can do better work than both of them put together!"

Misty smirked and crossed her arms. "You certainly are confident, aren't you?"

Elizabeth nodded her head. "I know what I'm doing, Mommy."

Her ears perked as the sound of exasperated squeaks reached them. Pikachu was dragging another large spool of lights towards the group, clearly struggling with the task.

"Pikachu!" Elizabeth cried with a giggle, running over to the electric type. She plucked the lights from the mouse, who sighed in relief.

"Bit off more than you could chew again, huh?" Ash asked his partner.

"Pi-ka…" Pikachu grumbled.

"Pikachu wants to help too," Elizabeth commented.

"I'm sure he's been doing a wonderful job!" Misty replied cheerfully. "How much more is there left to do?"

"Not much," Ash answered, taking a couple of steps back to survey the house. "Most of the bushes are covered at this point. We just have one more over on the left side! Then we have some of those inflatable Pokémon to put up on the lawn."

Elizabeth gasped. "Those are my favorites!"

"Why don't I start with those?" Misty suggested. "They're pretty straightforward."

"Sure!" Ash chirped. "I'll get to work on that last bush in the meantime."

Misty nodded and glanced over at her daughter. "Lizzie, do you want to help with the inflatable Pokémon?"

"Yeah!" Elizabeth cheered.

The centerpiece of the family's inflatable decorations was a big snow Pikachu sporting a Santa hat. It was then surrounded by three smaller ones which each of the children had chosen: a Squirtle holding a string of lights for Aiden, a Pichu sitting on top of a present for Michelle, and a Teddiursa with a bow around its neck for Elizabeth.

"We have to make sure they stay in the ground and don't blow away," Elizabeth directed her mother.

"You really know all about the Christmas decorations!" Misty laughed.

"I pay attention," Elizabeth replied, nodding her head.

"Well, that's good," Misty assured her.

"We need the hammer!" Elizabeth cried, turning to make a run for it.

"Whoa, hold on!" Misty breathed, kneeling down to grab her daughter's shoulders and hold her back. "Let's not start swinging tools around, Lizzie."

"I'm not gonna swing it around!" Elizabeth whined.

"I just don't want you dropping it on your foot or anything like that," Misty sighed. "You'll hurt yourself. I'll go get it."

Elizabeth furrowed her brow as her mother stood up. "What if _you_ drop it on your foot?"

"I won't, I promise."

"But if you did, wouldn't it hurt you too?"

"Well…yes."

That seemed to be enough for Elizabeth, who puffed her chest out proudly. Realizing she just wanted to be told she was right, Misty smirked and shook her head. By the time she had returned with the tool, Elizabeth had pulled all of the inflatables out of their boxes and scattered them on the lawn.

"Okay, you got a head start…" Misty murmured.

Elizabeth jumped up and grinned. "They're in their places! Like on stage!" With that out of the way, Elizabeth held her hand out and requested, "hammer, please!"

"Um, no," Misty calmly replied.

"Why?" Elizabeth grumbled, folding her arms.

"I already told you, you might hurt yourself."

"I won't!" Elizabeth cried. "I'm not Aiden!"

Misty smirked. "That has nothing to do with it. Here, why don't you hold down the stakes for me?"

She offered her daughter one of the small pieces of metal, who continued to pout but accepted them regardless. Without having to be told, Elizabeth knelt down and began sticking them through the nylon straps of each inflatable, further impressing her mother.

"You really do pay attention, don't you?" Misty awed.

Elizabeth looked up and, finally, smiled again as she nodded.

"You're such a good girl!" Misty giggled. "Think the stakes are in the right spots?"

"Uh huh!"

"Then I'll just hammer them in so they're good and tight," Misty replied. "You keep going with the rest of the stakes!"

Elizabeth followed her mother's instructions, and within 10 minutes, all of the inflatable Pokémon were up and running.

"Perfect!" Misty crowed, taking in their work.

Elizabeth laughed delightedly and began running circles around the decorations. "I love it! They're so cute!"

"How're the Pokémon coming along?"

Now it was Misty's turn to adopt a proud look as Ash approached her. "All set!"

"Really?" Ash breathed, turning around. "Oh, yeah! They look awesome, you guys!"

"Elizabeth was a big help," Misty replied. "She wasn't kidding when she said she pays attention! She knew where everything belonged."

The little girl scurried over to her father, grinning. "I'm really good at it, Daddy!"

"I believe it!" Ash chuckled. "We sure do make a great decorating team!"

"We?" Misty teased. "Did you finish that last bush, Mr. Pokémon Master?"

"Sure did!" Ash boasted.

"Alright, fine, then we _are_ a great decorating team," Misty giggled.

Pikachu, who had been helping Ash complete the final bush, ran up to Elizabeth, jumping into the little girl's arms and snuggling against her pink winter jacket.

"I think Pikachu is cold," Elizabeth squeaked, glancing up at her father.

"We have been out here a while," Ash mused. "You ready to go inside, buddy?"

Pikachu picked his head up and nodded.

"That sounds like a good idea," Misty agreed, reaching down to scratch between Pikachu's ears. "I'll make some hot chocolate for us!"

"Ooh, yay!" Elizabeth cheered.

Ash chuckled at his daughter's exuberance. "Lizzie will never turn down sweets!"

Misty smiled and added, "she definitely deserves it after helping us out with all this decorating!"

 **XXX**

Sitting at the kitchen table, Elizabeth happily sipped the hot chocolate her mother had prepared, swinging her legs off the front of her chair. She didn't mind the cold, like her mother did, but it was definitely nice to take a break from it!

As she lowered the mug from her lips, someone came stomping down the stairs, running past Elizabeth so fast she couldn't even see them.

"Mom, you made hot chocolate?!"

Misty scoffed and turned towards her son. "Really? That's what gets you out of bed?"

"Yeah, I could smell it up in my room," Aiden replied.

"No use lying to you then, that nose of yours is basically your superpower," Misty snickered.

"Nuh uh!" Elizabeth suddenly cried, practically flinging herself over the back of her chair. "That's for people who helped decorate outside!"

"Lizzie, there's no rules like that," Misty reminded her daughter.

"Well, there should be," Elizabeth huffed.

Aiden raised an eyebrow. "You're saying you helped decorate outside?"

"Yep!" Elizabeth chirped.

"And you're already done?"

"Uh huh!"

Aiden, clearly skeptical, scoffed, "yeah, right."

"She's not kidding," Misty cut in, handing her son his own mug of hot chocolate. "Your little sister is quite talented when it comes to Christmas decorations."

Shifting his eyes, Aiden lowered his voice to a whisper and asked, "you don't think that's weird?"

"Maybe a little," Misty admitted. "But I'm more impressed by it than anything else."

Aiden sighed and raised the mug to his lips as he muttered. "Getting shown up by a six year old. I _knew_ I should've woken up earlier!"


	56. Birthday Outings

**It' almost a month late, but I finally got Aiden and Michelle's birthday one shot done! Better late than never, eh?**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 7 years old**

* * *

 **Birthday Outings**

Both Aiden and Michelle wouldn't hesitate to tell you that they didn't always like being a twin. They loved one another, but they had to deal with a few things that most other siblings didn't.

The most notable one was sharing a birthday.

In fairness, their parents tried their best to make each of them feel special, even when they had to share the day and, typically, their birthday party. Once the twins became a bit older, Ash and Misty would take them each for a day all their own, that they didn't have to share with one another and pick whatever it was they wanted to do.

For their seventh birthday, Michelle had chosen to go to a Pokémon painting class.

Inside of a small art studio in downtown Cerulean City, Michelle beamed excitedly at the blank canvas before her.

"I've never painted on one of these before!" Michelle squeaked, glancing between both of her parents. "It's so fancy!"

Misty giggled at her daughter's exuberance. "You know, I don't think I ever have either! Have you, Ash?"

The Pokémon Master had been distracted, looking around the room. There were various paintings hung on the walls, obviously done by real artists. Turning towards his wife, Ash smiled goofily and replied, "Nope! I bet it'll be fun though!"

Pikachu, who was sitting on his trainer's lap, began pawing at the paintbrushes on the table. They started to roll towards the edge, which Ash noticed out of the corner of his eye and managed to reach out and catch before they landed on the floor.

"You're filling in for Aiden, huh?" Ash teasingly asked his partner.

"Pi-ka…" Pikachu murmured sheepishly.

"Nah, Pikachu behaves a lot better than Aiden!" Michelle laughed, reaching over to pick up the Pokémon. "You can help Daddy paint!"

Ash furrowed his brow. "Hey, who said I was gonna need help painting?"

Michelle shrugged her shoulders. "It's okay to need help!"

"Oh, so if you need help, will you ask me?" Ash playfully inquired.

"No way!" Michelle cried, looking aghast by the suggestion. "I'm an _artist_ , Daddy. So I can help you too! But I won't need help."

Misty laughed lightly. "You certainly can't say she's lacking confidence anymore."

Ash kept staring at Michelle but inclined his head, silently agreeing with his wife. Michelle had really started to come out of her shell and was showing off more and more of her personality. She'd never necessarily been shy around her parents, or the rest of her family, but even with them she tended to be more reserved in public. This was becoming more of the norm, however, and it was a welcome sight for Ash and Misty. They thought it was wonderful to see her becoming more social and less afraid of other people.

"Look, Pikachu! You're in the painting!"

Michelle was holding the electric type above her head so he could see the painting the group would be tackling on display. Pikachu did, in fact, see his likeness on the canvas, and let out a delighted " _chaaa!_ "

"Is that why you picked this one?" Misty asked sweetly.

"Kinda," Michelle admitted with a giggle. "But it's got an Eevee too! They're playing together, see?"

"I do," Misty confirmed, nodding her head. "It's very cute!"

"And I can hang it in my room when I'm all done!" Michelle continued. "That's what real artists do when they make fancy paintings, right?"

"Hang them in their bedrooms?" Ash asked, sounding a bit bewildered. When Michelle grinned at him and enthusiastically nodded her head, however, Ash melted. "Yep, they sure do!"

Misty scoffed and shook her head. "You're so soft."

Ash's eyebrows shot up. "Me?!"

"Yeah, you," Misty giggled. "This little girl could tell you the grass was red, and you'd agree!"

"It's because she's so cute," Ash calmly defended himself.

"I'm cute!" Michelle agreed with a chirp, beaming at both of her parents.

"You sure are," Misty cooed, gently grabbing her daughter's chin.

By the time the painting had actually begun, however, Ash's puddle like state for his daughter quickly began to dissolve. Art wasn't exactly his forte, nor was patience, and he was finding it rather difficult to follow the instructor _and_ focus on his own work…which he was less than pleased with.

"My tree looks like a giant blob," Ash fretted.

Michelle quickly looked over from her own canvas. "You just need to make the lines straighter!"

"Straighter?" Ash repeated. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"You gotta not hold the brush so tight," Michelle replied, holding up her own for emphasis. "Your hand shakes more that way!"

Ash was thrown off. "That's pretty good advice. How do you know that?"

"Uncle Tracey taught me," Michelle squeaked, lifting her head ever so slightly as she dragged the bristles of her brush up the canvas.

"He could spend all day talking about art techniques with Michelle," Misty sighed. "It's cute until you can't get her to leave and then _you_ get stuck listening to Tracey rant about different brush strokes for 20 minutes."

Ash blinked. "There are different ones? I thought you just…brushed."

"No, that's just what the rest of us who aren't talented artists do," Misty teased, winking at her husband.

While Ash was distracted talking to Michelle and Misty, the instructor had moved on to another part of the painting, causing Ash to panic. "Ah! I wasn't done with my tree yet!"

Michelle giggled as her father rushed to finish. He was pretty silly, but she liked that about him! It made him really fun to be around, especially since he didn't take himself too seriously.

The next part of the painting to complete was the Pikachu, which naturally excited Ash's electric type partner. Before Ash could even dip his brush into the yellow paint, Pikachu pointed at it with his paw and began chattering excitedly.

"Hmm?" Ash hummed. "Oh, you want to help me?"

"Pi!"

Ash grinned. "That's a great idea! After all, who could be better at painting a Pikachu than you?"

Pikachu saluted his trainer before throwing his paw down in the yellow paint. That got Michelle laughing audibly now, and Misty's eyes to go wide. Happily, Pikachu began patting the paint onto the canvas, building up a blobby yellow shape.

"Yeah, great job, Pikachu!" Ash cheered.

"Pikachu's a really good artist for a Pokémon," Michelle agreed. "Almost as good as a Smeargle!"

"Pi-ka…" Pikachu squeaked bashfully, rubbing the back of his head. He stilled, however, before slowly moving his paw forward, revealing that he had touched his head with the paw that was covered in paint. Ash, Misty, and Michelle all laughed at this, thoroughly amused.

"At least the paint is the same color as your fur!" Misty reassured the Pokémon.

Ash chuckled once more before patting his partner's head. "Don't worry, buddy, I'll wash you up when we get home."

Pikachu let out a relieved sigh, and Michelle giggled once again. Misty took notice and smiled, leaning down closer to her daughter. "Are you having fun?"

"Uh huh!" Michelle chirped, her eyes sparkling. "The most fun ever!"

 **XXX**

Aiden's choice was a trip to a trampoline park that was open to both humans and Pokémon. While Aiden was still too young to have Pokémon of his own, he always enjoyed getting to see other people with their Pokémon. Even better, going with his parents meant getting to jump around with their Pokémon, too.

The boy went bounding into the place, holding an equally excited Pikachu in his arms.

"This place is so cool!" Aiden gasped, jumping up and down.

"Whoa, buddy, save some of that jumping for the trampolines!" Ash chuckled, coming up behind his son.

Misty, on the other hand, looked out with a bit of trepidation. "This place looks like an accident waiting to happen."

Ash chuckled. "Come on, Mist, don't worry so much! Kids are all over this place, they wouldn't keep it open if it was a death trap."

Misty didn't seem convinced.

"I won't get hurt, Mom!" Aiden assured her, looking up with a big grin on his face.

"You say that a lot, buddy," Misty sighed through her own smile. "And yet…"

"Nuh uh, I haven't gotten hurt in a really long time!" Aiden argued.

"Aiden's gonna be just fine because he'll have us and our Pokémon with him," Ash added. "We'll all keep an eye out!"

Misty's smile transformed into an odd smirk. "I know I'm just being a little overprotective."

"A _little?_ " Aiden prodded, raising an eyebrow.

Misty shot her son an exasperated look. "I can't help it that I worry. You're my little boy!"

"I'm not little," Aiden refuted, scowling.

Ash growled playfully and picked the boy up, surprising him. "Maybe you're not as little anymore, but I can still pick you up and bring you where I want!"

"Where's that?" Aiden chirped, opening his arms to allow Pikachu to jump onto Ash's shoulder.

"To the trampolines!" Ash declared.

"Alright!" Aiden cheered.

The trio removed their shoes and placed them in nearby cubbies, after which Ash and Misty began to release their Pokémon. They had only brought a few smaller ones: Ash had taken Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and Oshawott, while Misty had picked Vaporeon, Corsola, and Politoed. Aiden, of course, was perfectly happy with the group…although he did have one inquiry.

"Mommy, how come you didn't bring Gyrados?" Aiden asked.

Misty giggled at the question. "I think he's a bit big to go on a trampoline, don't you? Plus, he doesn't have any legs to jump on! That would look pretty silly, wouldn't it?"

Aiden laughed at the image before adding, "He could use splash!"

"My Gyrados doesn't know splash you crazy boy!" Misty guffawed.

"I bet he did when he was a Magikarp!" Aiden cried excitedly.

Ash's eyes lit up. "You been brushing up on different attacks again, buddy?"

"Yep!" Aiden replied, looking around the room as he shifted from foot to foot.

"That's my boy," Ash cheered, pumping his fist.

"Your boy is getting a bit restless," Misty noted, nodding towards their son as he continued to rock back and forth. "I think we should start bouncing before he explodes."

"Good idea," Ash murmured.

Bulbasaur sidled up to the child, who laughed as soon as he saw the grass type. The seed Pokémon gently nudged the boy's leg, urging him to follow. Aiden understood and went running after the grass type, with the other Pokémon following suit.

"Such a rambunctious little group," Misty remarked, a smirk on her face.

"Hopefully this place is still in one piece when they're done with it," Ash replied, winking at her.

On the trampolines, Aiden laughed wildly when the Pokémon began to bounce around him. He soon started to bounce too, disrupting the Pokémon's jumps and sending them in all different directions. Aiden only began to laugh harder, and it proved to be infectious as the Pokémon started laughing too.

Ash and Misty soon joined in as well. Ash bounced close to Aiden and practically sent the boy flying, much to his delight. Misty panicked for a second when Aiden went shooting up in the air, but as soon as he landed on his butt and continued shrieking with laughter, she relaxed.

"Dad, I can make you fall down too!"

"Oh yeah? I'd like to see you try!"

Aiden got to his feet and jumped as hard as he could. Ash gasped and dramatically fell over, causing Aiden to laugh again and Misty to smirk adoringly.

"See?" Aiden crowed, continuing to bounce up and down around his father.

"Yeah, you got me good!" Ash chuckled. He tried to sit up again, but when Aiden landed another bounce near him, he toppled back over, and Aiden's wild giggles only increased.

"I don't think he's ever gonna let you get back up," Misty teased.

"Help me, Mom!"

Misty blinked and looked over at Aiden. "Help you? With what, buddy?"

"We have to jump together to keep Dad down!"

Ash glanced up hopefully at his wife. Misty, who noticed this, scoffed playfully and replied, "How can I say no to the birthday boy?"

"Wait, wait-"

Ash's pleas were interrupted as Aiden and Misty began to bounce around him. Now he actually _couldn't_ get up, and was flopping around like a Magikarp. This amused his and Misty's Pokémon, who soon joined in with Aiden and Misty to keep Ash down.

"Guys, come on!" Ash cried. "I want to jump too! And not on my back…"

"Head butt!"

Aiden threw himself down on top of Ash, knocking the air out of him.

Misty sighed and knelt down next to her husband, quipping, "I told you this place was an accident waiting to happen."

"That was no accident!" Ash wheezed.

Aiden giggled and lifted himself off his father, instead choosing to jump after Politoed, who was hopping around and clapping his hands together.

"Well, our son and our Pokémon sure are having a good time," Misty noted, watching with a smile as Aiden caught up to Politoed and earned even more excited applause from the frog Pokémon.

"I would be too, but I think my internal organs are bruised," Ash muttered. "Could you please help me up?"

Misty playfully rolled her eyes before grabbing Ash's arms and pulling him up, the man letting out a pained breath.

"He's just the sweetest thing."

Ash raised an eyebrow when he realized Misty was watching, and referring to, their son. "You saw him land on me before, right?"

"He was just playing," Misty dismissed. "Besides, you know he didn't mean to hurt you! He's always been so excitable and full of energy. I think it's adorable. It's what makes him Aiden, you know?"

Ash watched as the boy jumped around sporadically, his and Misty's Pokémon following after him. The creatures were eventually able to jump on the boy and pull him down, much to Aiden's enjoyment. He loved Pokémon, _adored_ them in fact, and nothing made Ash prouder. Except for the fact that his son was also very friendly and funny and kind. Maybe that made him even prouder.

Aiden had managed to wriggle his way out from beneath the Pokémon and hopped back over to his parents. He lunged at both of them, which caused Ash to wince, but this time, it was to give them a hug.

"Aiden, what's this for?" Misty asked sweetly.

"Thanks for taking me here!" Aiden chirped, beaming at his mother and father. "I'm having the most fun ever!"

"Most fun ever?" Misty repeated, remembering that Michelle had said the exact same thing.

Aiden's grin somehow widened, and he nodded his head. Before Ash or Misty could say anything, Aiden pulled away and started bouncing again. "Come on, let's go jump!"

Ash and Misty exchanged looks before smiling and getting to their feet, following after their enthusiastic son and the equally excited Pokémon.


	57. Soap Opera Digest

**One of my goals for 2019 is to write more, and that includes updating my stories more consistently again. So, here's my first entry of the new year!**

* * *

 **Soap Opera Digest**

Basically everyone has at least one guilty pleasure they're not too proud to admit they have. For some people, it's enjoying food that isn't necessarily good for you. For others, it's playing video games often thought of for kids.

For Misty, it was watching cheesy, dramatic soap operas.

In all fairness, she hadn't electively chosen to begin watching them. When she and Ash were living with his mother, she watched them every single day. Misty generally just tuned them out, but once it got to the point where she'd become super pregnant and confined to bed rest, she much preferred to be downstairs with Delia rather than upstairs and alone, which pretty much forced her to begin paying attention to the TV.

"This is a little much, isn't it?" Misty wondered aloud after one of the characters tossed a drink in the face of another character…apparently her sister.

"Yes, more often than not it gets a bit silly," Delia agreed, folding a shirt and placing it in the laundry basket next to her.

"So how come you like watching it so much?" Misty asked before gasping and covering her mouth. "I'm sorry, that came out way ruder than I meant it to!"

"Oh, don't worry about it, dear," Delia scoffed. "It's a perfectly valid question! Honestly, they're just really addictive. You can't help but to wonder what's going to happen next, no matter how crazy and unrealistic the story is."

Misty twisted her mouth as she considered Delia's reply. "That actually makes sense." She turned back towards the TV, resting one hand on her large belly. "So why's that girl so mad?"

"That girl is Emilia, and she just found out that her husband cheated on her with her sister…well, her half-sister, Leesha," Delia explained.

"That's so messy," Misty breathed.

"It's ridiculous, but the husband certainly is good looking," Delia sighed. "She just couldn't stay away."

Misty blinked and tilted her head. "So like…where does she even go from here? What does she do with her husband? Kill him or something?"

"Wouldn't be the first time on this show," Delia noted. Misty's eyes widened as she snapped her head towards her mother-in-law, waiting for her to say she was joking. When Delia realized Misty was giving her that look, however, she simply hummed and continued, "That's really happened before. More than once, actually."

"This is actually insane," Misty commented.

"Now you see why I can't stop watching this nonsense," Delia agreed.

"It's so dumb, but it's like…I need to know what happens next!" Misty cried. "That trashy husband of hers better get what for! And her trashy half-sister too. A glass full of cocktail to the face isn't enough."

Delia smirked and cast the laundry basket aside. "Well, if you're going to get sucked into this train wreck too, might as well catch you up on the history of the whole thing."

 **XXX**

And so, ever since then, Misty had religiously watched _Days of Our Pokémon_ every single day. She was not proud of this fact, however, and did not admit it to _anyone_ …not even her husband. It had been that way for nearly seven years and she certainly wasn't about to change that fact.

Well…wasn't _planning_ on it, at least.

After successfully putting her children down for a nap, Misty made her way downstairs with the intent of watching her (secretly beloved) drama. She was taken off guard, however, when she found Ash sitting on the couch with the television remote in his hand.

"Ash!" Misty hissed, covering her heart. "When did you get home?!"

"Uh…like 15 minutes ago," Ash replied.

"And you came in that quietly?" Misty asked, hardly believing it.

"I guess so," Ash murmured, shrugging his shoulders. "But…probably not. You normally hear me, so you must've been pretty busy or something. Where were you?"

"Trying to get all three of our kids to nap at once," Misty grumbled.

"Wow, that's basically impossible," Ash marveled. "Did it work?"

"Surprisingly enough, yes," Misty sighed, rubbing her eyes. "Took me _forever_ though."

"You seem kind of tired yourself," Ash observed. "Maybe you should take a nap, too!"

"It's not a bad idea, but I think I'd rather just relax for a bit," Misty sighed, sinking down beside her husband.

"Sounds good to me!" Ash chuckled. "I'll even put on a show for you!"

"What show?" Misty questioned, not thinking anything of it.

"I don't know, whatever it is you have saved in your folder here," Ash replied.

Misty jumped straight up, her hands scrambling to grip the couch. "What folder?!"

"This one that I found on the TV hidden behind like three other folders," Ash answered as though it should have been obvious.

Misty's entire face involuntarily turned red. "Wh-why are you snooping around like that?!"

Ash blinked. "How come you're so worked up over it?"

"Because you're digging into my private stuff!" Misty howled.

Ash stayed silent for a moment before warily responding, "I feel like you're hiding something from me."

"I'm not," Misty grumbled unconvincingly, her face still red.

Ash, of course, wasn't convinced and clicked the final folder. Misty unleashed a horrified squeal and jumped on top of him, trying to snatch the remote from his hands. Ash grunted and tried to shoulder her off, which did him no good.

"Arceus, you hold on like an Aipom," Ash muttered.

"Don't you _dare_ open that folder, Ash Ketchum!" Misty warned.

"I already did," Ash deadpanned.

Misty's eyes widened as her head snapped up to look at the TV. A seemingly never ending list of the same title over and over again graced it, causing Misty to groan and sink down until her face was buried between her husband's neck and shoulder.

" _Days of Our Pokémon_?" Ash read, furrowing his brow. "What's this, some kind of documentary?"

Misty only responded with a huff, which Ash decided to take as a yes.

"Oh, well, that's no big deal!" Ash chuckled. "I thought this thing was gonna be full of shows with half naked guys."

Misty sighed and didn't bother to pick her head up. Ash clicked on the remote again, starting the first episode on the list. As soon as Misty heard the melodic theme song, she picked her head right back up and gasped.

"Why'd you turn it on?!" Misty cried, reaching for the remote once more.

"Mist, chill!" Ash laughed, holding the remote above his head. "I don't know why you're being so weird about having a bunch of Pokémon documentaries recorded. I'll watch these with you!"

Once the theme song ended, a strange sound emitted from the TV, causing Ash to raise an eyebrow. Misty caught sight of the screen and squeaked, covering her face with her hands.

Ash pursed his lips and slowly turned towards the TV. "Hey, that kind of sounds like when we…" His eyes widened, and he whipped his head back towards Misty. "How come people are making out on a documentary about Pokémon?!"

"It's not a Pokémon documentary!" Misty finally stormed.

Ash remained silent for a moment before humming thoughtfully. "Well that makes a lot more sense." He looked over at the TV again and watched for a few more seconds before realizing, "hey, wait a sec. My mom watches this show! Isn't this that-"

"Dumb, cheesy, overdramatic soap opera?" Misty finished for him. "Yes. It is."

"She's watched this for as long as I can remember," Ash mused. "She used to tell me not to bother her when it was on because it was her 'one hour of enjoyment' or something like that. I always thought it seemed like a pretty weird show. So…you like it too?"

Misty hesitated for a moment before tensely replying, "I guess you could say that."

"How come you hid it behind all these folders?" Ash asked.

"Because it's embarrassing," Misty replied, apparently shocked he even had to ask.

"It's not embarrassing," Ash chuckled. "It's just a show!"

"Yeah, a dumb show," Misty grumbled.

"But you just said you like it," Ash reasoned with her.

" _Technically_ I didn't say that," Misty corrected him. "I said I _guess_ you could say I like it. Not that I _do_ like it."

"Right…" Ash drawled. "Well, you have to _kind of_ like it to have this many episodes of it recorded."

"It's just addictive, that's all!" Misty cried. "Even your mom says that! You can't stop watching because you get sucked into it. It's really more of a hostage situation than anything."

There was a beat of silence. Then Ash burst out into laughter, much to Misty's annoyance.

"What's so funny?!" She demanded.

"You're coming up with so many excuses about liking this show," Ash snickered. "It's _really_ not a big deal, Mist."

"Well, it is to me!" Misty growled, jumping to her feet as she began to pace the floor. "There's a stereotype that goes with those dumb shows! And the stereotype is that they're only watched by bored housewives with nothing better to do. I will _not_ be viewed as a stereotypical housewife!"

"Hey, I don't think of you like that," Ash tried, nervously waving his hands in front of him. "You're _way_ more than just a housewife. It's just one of the many reasons I love you so much!"

"Oh, Ash, I know that you know that," Misty breathed, settling down enough to walk back over to him and sit on his lap. "I just don't want _other_ people thinking it."

Ash smiled against the back of Misty's ribs and wrapped his arms around her. "No one's gonna think anything. Your secret is safe with me."

"Thanks," Misty murmured.

"So…since I now know this _isn't_ a Pokémon documentary, can we watch something else?" Ash asked sheepishly.

Misty smirked and shook her head. "Absolutely."

 **XXX**

"The baby is totally Steven's."

"No way! It's got to be Jonathon's."

"Why? It'd be so much more dramatic if it was Steven's!"

"Yeah but if it _is_ then Ali and Jonathon will break up, and they can't just break up one of the best couples on the show!"

"But they always do that!"

"Yeah, but Ali and Jonathon are different."

"They've already broken up like…twice."

"I know, but-"

" _Ahem._ "

May and Dawn looked across the table, where Misty was shooting them an unimpressed look.

"Oops," May murmured before genuinely apologizing, "sorry about that, Misty."

"Yeah, we keep forgetting you don't watch _Days of our Pokémon_ ," Dawn added. "Even though you totally should! It's _so_ good."

"That's what you both keep telling me," Misty sighed, picking up her menu to peruse it.

May and Dawn had been watching the show since they were teenagers, but they had no idea Misty watched it as well, and she'd been insistent on keeping it that way. They frequently got swept up in discussing the latest episodes and their little theories, and apparently called each other over the phone weekly to do just that. Still, when the three women had arranged to meet up for lunch while May and Dawn were visiting Kanto on contest business, Misty hadn't really expected to get caught in the middle of one of their chats.

"I just keep thinking…what if Bruno reveals Ali's secret about knowing who stole Rod's beloved Ninetails?" May continued in a hushed tone.

"He would never," Dawn refuted, reaching for her iced tea. "He's her uncle! And she's his favorite niece!"

"Anything is possible if Dr. Gaines breaks out his Hypno and uses hypnosis," May mused. "And he and Bruno have been having that feud for _years!_ He'd do anything to tick him off, and going after Ali totally qualifies."

"Please, Dr. Gaines will figure out the father of her baby before he finds out where Rod's Ninetails is," Dawn scoffed.

Misty just peered over the top of her menu with narrowed eyes. "Really?"

The two other women quickly looked just as guilty as they had before.

"We just keep getting carried away," May sighed, shaking her head.

"It's because it's _so good_ ," Dawn groaned. "Misty, seriously, you should watch it. Just try one episode!"

"No thanks, I'm alright," Misty plainly replied, finally putting down her menu to take a sip of her water.

"Oh but the guys are _so hot_ ," Dawn sighed, fluttering her eyelashes.

Misty smirked at the blue haired beauty. "Hotter than Kenny?"

Dawn's face flashed red and she glanced up towards the ceiling. "No comment."

May remained silent for a moment before contemplating, "what if Bruno secretly wants to expose Ali because he knows she's a threat to the family business? After all, her father, ya know, Bruno's half-brother-"

Misty slammed her menu down and glared at a startled May. "Just because Bruno and Daniel don't get along doesn't mean he'll get Ali in trouble! She's literally the only thing related to Daniel he cares about; he's not risking that."

Both Dawn and May's jaws dropped following Misty's outburst. Misty kept the aggravated look on her face…until she realized what she'd just done. Once that hit her, her eyes widened and she smacked her hands against her head. "Oh no."

May and Dawn slowly turned towards Misty. Finally, Dawn managed to ask, "you…already watch _Days of our Pokémon_ , don't you?"

Misty remained silent for a long minute before admitting, "…maybe."

May's eyes lit up. "Why didn't you just say so in the first place?! You could've totally joined in on our phone calls!"

"Because I don't like to admit that I actually watch it," Misty grumbled, lowering her hands. "I mean, Ash _literally_ just found out about it and we've been married for seven years."

"Wow, that's some dedication to hiding it," May breathed, sounding genuinely impressed.

"It's such a dumb show," Misty muttered, shaking her head as she took a sip of water.

Now Dawn was even more confused. "Wait, if you think it's so dumb, why do you watch it?"

"Because I can't stop," Misty plainly replied, putting her glass down. "It's _so_ stupid, but it's _so_ addictive. How am I supposed to stop watching after all of those crazy cliffhangers they give you? It's like a crazy deep spiral I can't get myself out of. Or a really grizzly train wreck that you just can't look away from, no matter how bad you want to."

Dawn still seemed perplexed, but May was just happy that one of her best friends was actually into the same show as her after thinking she'd never even seen it _and_ constantly begging for her to get into it. "So does this mean you'll join in our phone discussions _now?_ "

Misty grimaced at the idea. "May, it's already bad enough I owned up to watching this nonsense. I don't need to feel any worse about it."

May pouted at Misty's dismissal of the idea. "But it'd be _so much fun_ for all of us to talk about the wedding next week!"

Misty sighed and rolled her eyes. It was so hard to say no to May for some reason. "Fine. But just next week. Then I'm out!"

May quickly nodded her head before leaning into Dawn once Misty picked her menu back up. "We're so gonna rope her in."

"Oh, absolutely," Dawn assured the brunette. "If Misty thinks she can get out of those calls now that we know her dirty little secret, she's out of her mind."

* * *

 **Full disclosure that I watch soap operas, hence the idea, and they are just as dumb, wild, and addictive as this story makes them out to be.**


	58. Complaints to the Chef

**I didn't realize how long it's been since I updated! I've been getting caught up in so many things. But this is one I particularly enjoyed writing, so I'm excited to share it with you all!**

 **Elizabeth: 6 years old**

* * *

 **Complaints to the Chef**

" _Ooooh!_ "

Elizabeth's eyes sparkled as she laid them on her friend Hailie's lunch. The lavender bento box was filled with rice, sliced meat, fruit and vegetables intricately cut and arranged into the shape of a Mareep surrounded by flowers and lightning bolts.

"That's the coolest lunch ever!" Elizabeth squealed, sitting back down to beam at Hailie.

The little brunette giggled. "Thanks! Lucy's really good at making fancy stuff like this."

Elizabeth twisted her mouth and glanced down at her far more simple meal: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich cut in half with some vegetable sticks and a pair of cookies. "My mommy could never make anything like that."

Maria tilted her head. "Is she a bad cook?"

"No," Elizabeth replied slowly. "She just doesn't make anything from scratch. Like cake! She can make it, but it has to come out of a box."

"My mom can make her own cakes," David informed the girls, popping a chip into his mouth. "But she only does it for special things, like our birthdays."

"Mine is really good at cooking and baking!" Maria chirped. "She can make all kinds of tasty stuff. Her cookies are my favorite!"

"Does she make them all the time?" David asked.

Maria grinned and nodded her head. "Uh huh!"

David pouted and rested his head in his hand. "Lucky."

Elizabeth frowned. "You guys are _all_ lucky. I don't _mind_ eating pre-made stuff, but homemade is always better! That's why I like visiting my Grammy. She owns a restaurant, so she makes the _best_ food!"

Gasping, Hailie suggested, "then maybe _she_ could make you a fancy lunch!"

Elizabeth simply blinked. "What?"

"Since she's a professional chef, your grandma could probably make something really amazing for you!" Hailie elaborated. "You could ask her to make your lunch."

David hummed and nodded his head. "Plus, grandmas never say no to their grandkids! That's like…a rule, I think."

Elizabeth twisted her mouth in thought. "That's a pretty good idea." Grinning with determination, Elizabeth slammed one of her small fists on the table. "Kay, that's what I'm gonna do! But I'll need to find a way to get to her house first…"

 **XXX**

When a slip of fake, pink paper money appeared on his lap, Ash knew there was only one person who would give him such a bribe. Smirking, Ash lifted the play money with two fingers and, without even looking down, asked, "I'm assuming you want something, Lizzie?"

The little girl's eyes widened. "Wow, how'd you know it was me?"

"Lucky guess," Ash teased, finally turning his head towards his daughter. "What's up, pumpkin?"

"I want you to take me to Pallet Town," Elizabeth announced before quickly adding, "please."

"What for?" Ash questioned.

"I have to visit Grammy," Elizabeth elucidated. "I want to ask her something."

Ash appeared confused by the request. "Well, if that's all, we could just call her on the phone and you could ask that way."

"No!" Elizabeth cried. "I have to go there, Daddy! I have to ask her in person!"

Now Ash was even _more_ confused. "What kind of question is this, anyway?"

Elizabeth sighed as she motioned for her father to come closer to her. Raising an eyebrow, Ash got up from his chair and knelt down beside Elizabeth so she could lean into his ear.

"I want Grammy to make me lunch for school," Elizabeth whispered.

"Lunch?" Ash repeated, not keeping his voice low like Elizabeth. "But Mommy always makes you-"

"Shh!" Elizabeth hissed. "Don't let her hear you!"

"Why not?" Ash asked.

"I don't want to make Mommy feel bad," Elizabeth explained, her voice still soft. "Her lunch is okay. But Hailie had a really cool lunch today, and I bet Grammy could make one just like it!"

"I don't know, Mommy's not all that bad at cooking," Ash murmured, scratching his head. "You're lucky you never had to eat her food _before_ Grammy and Brock taught her how to do it!"

"Yeah, but Grammy's food is still better," Elizabeth challenged.

Ash opened his mouth to argue, but quickly reeled that in. "That's fair."

Elizabeth's face lit up. She knew she was starting to convince him. "Please, Daddy? Can we go?"

Ash sighed. He wasn't really in the mood to get caught up in what was sure to be a long winded visit to his mother's, but he also thought this would be a pretty silly thing to get in a fight with Elizabeth about. If all she wanted out of her grandmother was one measly lunch for school, then he supposed he could put up with a bit of unexpected personal invasion from his mom.

"Alright," Ash relented, earning an excited squeal from his daughter which brought the smile back to his face. "We'll head over there."

Almost completely satisfied, Elizabeth stopped celebrating to reach into her pocket and pull out another piece of fake paper, this one light blue in color. She held it out towards her father, who cautiously took the paper bill. "What's this one for?"

"To not tell Mommy what we're doing," Elizabeth replied.

Ash couldn't help but to chuckle as he held both bills up. "What, you don't trust me?"

"I do," Elizabeth effortlessly assured him. "But Aiden says you should always give people something when you need them to do stuff for you!"

Ash laughed as he winked at his daughter. "Well thanks, baby girl! I'll have to find a good place to spend this money."

Elizabeth showed off a sideways smile, and supplemented it with a mischievous, "Good luck, cause it's only pretend!"

 **XXX**

Delia was always thrilled to see her grandchildren. A surprise visit, somehow, was even better than the ones Delia knew about in advance, though she treasured both of them equally.

As soon as she saw Elizabeth standing on the other side of her white door, Delia showed off a huge grin.

"Hi, Grammy!" Elizabeth excitedly greeted, running up to her grandmother and hugging her legs.

"Oh, hello, darling!" Delia crooned, kneeling down to pick the child up. "What a nice surprise! Did you come here all by yourself?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "Daddy brought me! I bribed him!"

Delia snickered at her granddaughter's reply before looking around. "Where is he?"

"I'm right here."

Ash was scowling at his daughter as he walked up towards the house, Pikachu sitting on his shoulder. "Elizabeth, you have to stop letting yourself out of the car."

"Why?" Elizabeth squeaked. "I'm good at it!"

"Yeah, _too_ good," Ash sighed, folding his arms.

Delia giggled. "It's alright, dear! She's perfectly safe here."

"I know that, but it's not really a great habit to have," Ash grumbled.

Elizabeth shrugged and looked up at her grandmother. "Grammy, I hafta ask you something!"

"Oh, okay!" Delia breathed, taken off guard by her granddaughter's sudden rush. "Why don't we go inside first and then you can ask me?"

"Okay!" Elizabeth chirped.

She carried the child into the house, Ash and Pikachu entering just behind. Delia walked over to the couch and sat Elizabeth down, taking the spot beside her.

"Now, what would you like to ask me?" Delia questioned.

"Can you make me lunch for school?" Elizabeth blurted out, her eyes shimmering.

Delia appeared confused. "Sweetheart, doesn't Mommy make your lunch for you?"

"Yeah…" Elizabeth sighed. "But my friends told me all about how _their_ mommies make them homemade cookies and cakes! And my friend Hailie, she brought the coolest lunch to school yesterday! Her nanny made it for her. It looked like a Mareep!"

Delia looked over at her son, who simply shrugged his shoulders. He thought the whole thing was kind of silly, but it was more often than not fruitless to argue with his young daughter.

"Oh, I see," Delia murmured. "So you want a special lunch like that."

"Uh huh!" Elizabeth squeaked, quickly nodding her head.

Delia frowned. She certainly didn't want her daughter-in-law to feel inadequate when it came to feeding her own child. Delia knew for a fact the woman could cook. She had taught her, after all. Nothing too fancy, but what she was able to make tasted very good, and that was really all that mattered. Then again, it didn't really seem like Elizabeth was complaining about the way her mother's food tasted. She just wanted something a little special-and potentially very difficult to put together-like her friend had. That kind of bento box, which Delia had seen before, might have proven to be difficult even for her, let alone Misty. Delia also knew, however, that Elizabeth was coming of the age where she wanted the same things as her friends. One of them bringing in something so cute and so special would've definitely set off the little seed of jealousy that most children like Elizabeth possessed.

"Please, Grammy?"

Delia blinked, realizing she'd zoned out. Elizabeth was still gazing up at her, fluttering her long eyelashes. Unable to resist her granddaughter's face, Delia let out a gentle breath and smiled.

"Alright," she relented. "I'll make you a special lunch."

Elizabeth cheered and hugged Delia's side. "Thank you, Grammy!"

Delia hugged the girl back. "Of course, baby!"

Pulling away, Elizabeth stared deeply at her father and ordered, "Don't tell Mommy!"

Ash waved his hands in front of him. "Hey, I already told you I won't!"

Delia laughed, resting her head in her hand. "You really have Daddy wrapped around your little finger, don't you?"

Elizabeth smiled proudly and nodded her head. "I'm really good at that!"

 **XXX**

The bento box Delia had managed to create for Elizabeth was nothing short of amazing.

She'd shaped rice into the likeness of a Teddiursa, Elizabeth's favorite Pokémon, and surrounded it with hearts made of fruit, poke balls constructed with vegetables and cheese, and small swirls made with meat.

Both Elizabeth and Ash were amazed with the final product, which Delia had brought to their house the next morning in Elizabeth's pink bento box.

"I love it!" Elizabeth squealed, gleefully taking the box. "Thank you, Grammy!"

"Mom, how long did it take you to make that?" Ash asked, finally closing his jaw.

"About half an hour," Delia determined, shrugging her shoulders.

Ash furrowed his brow. "That's an awfully long time to put together lunch for a first grader."

"Maybe, but look how happy Lizzie is!" Delia giggled. "You know I'd do anything for my sweet little granddaughter."

"And you say she has _me_ wrapped around her little finger," Ash scoffed.

Kneeling down, Delia gently held Elizabeth's face and kissed the girl's forehead. "You have a lovely day at school, okay, sweetheart?"

"I will!" Elizabeth assured her, running over to her backpack in order to retrieve her lunch bag.

Ash sighed and looked back over at his mother. "Thanks again for agreeing to make Lizzie's lunch, Mom. You really didn't have to."

"Now Ash, I already told you I'd do anything for her!" Delia calmly argued. "It was no trouble at all, really. I'll see you all at the end of the week for dinner, yes?"

"Definitely," Ash chuckled, nodding his head. "See ya then!"

He closed the door behind her and sighed, leaning against it. He and Elizabeth had really gotten away with it.

"Who was at the door?"

A jolt traveled up Ash's spine, like he'd just received a light shock from Pikachu. Unfortunately for him, the mouse was hanging out around Elizabeth, watching the girl as she slipped her bento box into its matching lunch bag.

"No one!" Ash blurted, bewildering his wife as she walked down the stairs.

"I definitely heard you speaking to someone," Misty murmured, glancing over his shoulder.

"I was talking to myself," Ash supplied effortlessly.

From her spot on the floor, Elizabeth shot her father an incredulous look. She was _six_ and she wouldn't buy that! Based on Misty's face, she wasn't either.

"Nice try," Misty derided. She sauntered over to one of the windows in the living room, looking outside. "Is that your mother?"

"Um…no?"

Misty looked over at Ash and rolled her eyes. "You're a terrible liar."

Ash scowled. "Well…you ask terrible questions!"

"Why was Delia here?" Misty asked, not interested in arguing with her husband this early in the morning.

"Oh…she just had to drop something off," Ash replied. He was able to do this much more coolly because it wasn't really a lie.

"Really?" Misty sounded genuinely curious. "What was it?"

 _Now_ he was nervous again. As he started to stammer, Elizabeth sighed and easily responded, "Daddy left some of his underwear at Grammy's house, and she was sick of looking at it, so she brought it here."

Ash's face immediately turned red. Misty, on the other hand, let out a short laugh and exclaimed, "That doesn't surprise me! No wonder you were so embarrassed."

Misty walked right into the kitchen, leaving behind a still furiously blushing Ash. Elizabeth started to giggle, which she quickly hid behind her hand. Ash glared at his daughter, who managed to cease her tittering and instead squeak, "sorry, but you really are a bad liar. Mommy was gonna figure out something was up!"

"But you really had to use my _underwear_ as an excuse?" Ash groaned.

Elizabeth guiltlessly shrugged her shoulders. "It was the most believable!"

"Socks or shoes would've just worked as well!"

"Yeah, but you're _you_ , Daddy."

"Elizabeth, where's your lunch box?"

Ash and Elizabeth exchanged panicked looks. Jumping to her feet, Elizabeth scurried into the kitchen and chirped, "My lunch box?"

"I can't find it," Misty explained, closing one of the cabinets she'd been looking in. "You didn't leave it in your backpack again, did you?"

"No, I was just in my backpack!" Elizabeth answered.

Misty hummed and rubbed her chin. "It's not on the drying rack either. I swear I washed it last night!"

Ash appeared behind Elizabeth, his brow furrowed. "Maybe one of the Pokémon took it?"

"I doubt it," Misty sighed. "Without food in it, it's just an empty plastic box. Pikachu and Vaporeon wouldn't want anything to do with that."

"But Vaporeon likes boxes," Elizabeth tried.

" _Cardboard_ boxes, though," Misty mused. "Besides, she's never taken your lunch box before. So why now?"

Ash felt like he was slowly losing his mind. He wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to keep up this charade. After all, Misty wasn't going to send Elizabeth to school without lunch. And if she spent time making a new one, Ash would feel bad for unintentionally wasting her time. So, willing to risk the scorn of his youngest daughter, Ash sighed and admitted, "Mom was dropping off lunch for Elizabeth. We brought her the box last night so she could make something special."

Elizabeth's jaw dropped as she glared up at her father. Misty just stared at the two for a long moment before nodding her head and stating, "Okay."

Both Ash and Elizabeth were taken off guard. "Okay?!"

"Yeah, okay," Misty repeated, a bit of a snicker in her voice. "That's just one less thing for me to do! What, did you two think I'd be mad or something?"

"…kind of?" Ash muttered.

"You all make me sound like I'm crazy," Misty sighed, shaking her head. "Oh well. I'm just going to make myself some coffee, now that I don't have to put together Lizzie's lunch!"

Ash was still awestruck. He looked down at Elizabeth, who was still scowling at him. Laughing nervously, Ash commented, "well that went a lot better than I was expecting!"

Her facial expression unchanging, Elizabeth held her hand out. "I'm gonna need that pretend money back now, Daddy."

* * *

 **You know I had to throw in the dub's beloved underwear references from the OS ;)**


	59. An Anniversary Adventure

**It's Valentine's Day, which in my little headcanon world is Ash and Misty's anniversary!**

 **I've been rewatching Kanto (one of my goals for this year was to rewatch every Pokémon episode in order) and I always forget just how much I love the relationship between Ash and Misty from that series. Their personalities were so vivacious and they always played off of one another so well!**

 **So I figured, with all of that fresh in my mind, I really wanted to write a piece with all three of the kids (and their parents, of course) that really evoked the spirit of the original series.**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 13 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 7 years old**

* * *

 **An Anniversary Adventure**

"Ugh, why does everything for Valentine's Day have to have hearts all over it?"

"Because that's _literally_ the point of the holiday. Are you really that dense?"

Aiden narrowed his eyes and glared at his twin sister. "No, I'm not."

Michelle shrugged her shoulders. "Well, can you blame me for asking? That was a really stupid question."

Aiden huffed, only growing more annoyed. "It wasn't a _real_ question! It was re-technical!"

"I'm pretty sure you mean rhetorical," Michelle scoffed.

"I'm pretty sure you're a know-it-all," Aiden fired back, his hand balling into a fist.

"And _I'm_ pretty sure you're both _super_ annoying!"

Aiden and Michelle instead turned their ire onto their younger sibling, who had been standing quietly between the two up until that moment.

"Who asked you?" Michelle pressed.

"No one," Elizabeth replied frankly, flicking her green eyes upwards. "But it definitely had to be said."

Aiden rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "Michelle, I told you it was a mistake to let Elizabeth tag along."

"It wasn't exactly right to leave her out of finding a gift for Mom and Dad, although I'm starting to regret my own decision," Michelle begrudgingly admitted.

"You two need me anyway," Elizabeth interjected once again, waving a hand at her older siblings. "Neither of you could pick out anything good if you tried!"

Michelle swore she could feel a vein pop out of her forehead. "We _always_ try!"

"Seriously?" Elizabeth asked, sounding positively confounded. "Wow, now I feel _really_ bad for Mommy and Daddy."

Rolling his eyes, Aiden turned away from the shelf full of Valentine's Day gifts he'd been browsing and instead started marching towards the door of the store.

"Hey, where are you going?!" Elizabeth cried, hurrying after him.

"I don't need to stand around here and be insulted by a little kid," Aiden replied tersely, earning a glare from his sister. She hated being referred to as a little _anything_. "It's already bad enough we've got to run all over town to try and find a gift for Mom and Dad! We should just agree to leave them alone for a night and forgot buying anything. I think they'd like that better anyway."

"But we can't get them _nothing!_ " Elizabeth cried. "That's really lame, and it makes us look like we didn't care at all!"

Michelle came striding up to her siblings. "I hate to say it, but Lizzie is right. We've got to get them _something_."

Aiden groaned, frustrated by the nagging. "Fine. But there's obviously nothing here. We'll have to try a different store."

Before Michelle or Elizabeth could argue, like he feared, Aiden turned on a heel and walked through the sliding glass doors. His sisters followed behind, fortunately for him not protesting, and instead began to look up and down the long street of downtown Cerulean.

"Let's see…where should we check next?" Michelle wondered aloud.

"Maybe we should get them some potions and other Pokémon medicine," Aiden suggested. "They're always battling, so they always need it!"

"Mom and Dad get a bunch of that stuff from the Pokémon League, and also from Brock," Michelle pointed out. "There's no point in us spending money on those when they get them for free."

"Guess you're right," Aiden grumbled, folding his arms.

Elizabeth was staring ahead in deep thought, but was broken out of her trance when she saw something across the street that caught her eye. Blinking, she quickly looked both ways before running across, causing both Aiden and Michelle to panic.

"Elizabeth!" They cried simultaneously, following after the girl.

It didn't take them long to catch up to her, and once they did, they grabbed onto both of her arms, angering the child. "Hey!"

"How old are you?!" Michelle hissed. "Mom and Dad taught you not to do that as soon as you could walk!"

"I looked both ways!" Elizabeth argued.

"Right, because that's gonna stop a car from speeding out of nowhere and running you over!" Aiden barked.

Elizabeth growled and wrestled her arms free. "I'm _fine_! I only ran across because I saw something!"

Michelle blinked before snarling, "That's not an excuse!"

"It is when I think it's something that would make a really good gift for Mommy and Daddy," Elizabeth calmly argued, holding her hands behind her back.

Although Aiden and Michelle were still unhappy with their younger sister's stunt, they were both intrigued by her implication. Noticing this right away, Elizabeth smirked and turned around, pointing at the store window they were all standing in front of. Aiden and Michelle looked at the window, both of their eyes widening when they saw what Elizabeth had meant.

"I think it's perfect!" Elizabeth squealed.

"It's not bad…" Aiden admitted.

"We might as well go in and take a look," Michelle conceded. "Make Elizabeth's potentially deadly race across the street worth it."

"Quit it!"

 **XXX**

"Here's some food for Pichu, and here's some food for Pikachu!"

The two electric mice chattered happily as two full bowls were placed in front of them by Ash. They quickly began to chow down, earning a chuckle from the man. Standing back up, he walked over to the kitchen table, where his wife was sitting down flipping through a magazine.

"So…where are the kids again?"

Misty shrugged, and without looking up from her magazine, replied, "I'm not really sure. Aiden and Michelle said they had something to do, and Elizabeth insisted on tagging along."

Ash furrowed his brow. "I'm kind of surprised they let her. Those three have been a bit testy with one another lately."

Misty sighed and finally looked up at Ash, a smirk on her face. "And we thought toddlers were bad. Teenagers are on a completely different level."

"I'm not sure which is worse," Ash admitted, shaking his head.

"That's a fair point," Misty acknowledged, closing her magazine. "Well, while they're gone, I think we ought to do something on our own too!"

Ash blinked before grinning and wiggling his eyebrows. "Ah, Misty-"

"Not that," she cut him off, narrowing her eyes. "You've got to get your mind out of the gutter, Ketchum."

Ash frowned in response. "But I don't wanna."

"Sometimes I miss when you had no idea what any of that was," Misty muttered, crossing her arms as she leaned back against the chair she was sitting in.

" _That_ I refuse to believe," Ash scoffed.

"Your mind revolves around sex, food, and Pokémon battles," Misty teased. "Not particularly in that order, either."

"That's not true!" Ash cried. "I also think about our kids a lot!"

"Is that why you forgot where they were just now?" Misty snickered.

Ash rolled his eyes, but soon let a smile overtake his face. "Actually, that's not a bad idea."

Misty tilted her head. "What's not?"

"A Pokémon battle," Ash replied, grinning at her.

"You realize that just validates my last statement, right?" Misty pressed. "About you only ever thinking about three things?"

"It's a pretty nice day out for February," Ash continued, choosing to ignore her last point. "We could go in the backyard! What do you say, a quick one-on-one?"

Misty smirked mischievously at her husband. "With conditions like that, how do I know you're actually angling for a Pokémon battle and not something else?"

Ash nearly fell on the floor, earning laughter from the electric mice behind him as he cried out, "Mist!"

"I'm just teasing you," Misty giggled, getting to her feet. "Fine. We can have a battle."

The Pokémon Master straightened himself up and beamed at his wife. "Alright!"

"But _you_ have to do something for _me_ when we're done," Misty informed him, her smirk returning.

"Oh no…" Ash groaned.

"It's not a big deal!" Misty laughed. "I just have to run downtown to pick something up, and I think it would be nice if you came with me."

Ash essentially deflated at the proposition. "I was afraid you were gonna say that…"

"Why do you act like taking a trip downtown is like being lead to your death?" Misty demanded, folding her arms.

"Because it basically is," Ash deadpanned.

"I only have to pick something up!"

"That's _always_ what you say! But then you see something in the next window, and you have to go in the store and look, and it just keeps happening all the way down the street! And before I know it…"

Ash took a dramatic pause, leading Misty to raise an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"So much time has passed that I basically have one foot in a retirement home," Ash finished with a heavy sigh.

Misty choked back a laugh. "You are the biggest drama queen in this whole house!"

"It's not dramatic when it's true," Ash quipped.

"Whatever, you big baby," Misty snickered. Pichu, who had finished her food, scurried over to Misty, who grinned at the little mouse and picked her up. "You want to battle me or not?"

Ash let out a low growl, but as soon as it passed, he loosened his shoulders and relented, "yeah, I do."

"And you'll come downtown with me after?"

Now he seemed even more reluctant to answer. Finally, he broke down and begrudgingly replied, "Fine, I'll come. I don't _want_ to, but I will."

Misty giggled sweetly. "Fine by me!"

 **XXX**

"I thought you hated everything with hearts on it."

Aiden whipped around to face his unimpressed twin. "No, I hate all the cliché Valentine's Day stuff with hearts all over it. This is not a cliché for Valentine's Day! It's actually useful!"

Elizabeth stopped between her older siblings and thought about it for a moment. "If Mommy and Daddy got married on Valentine's Day, is that a cliché?"

Aiden pursed his lips. "Hmm, you know, I've never actually thought about that before! It might just be."

"No it's not, it's romantic," Michelle scoffed.

"A lot of 'romantic' things are total clichés," Aiden calmly argued.

"You're only saying that because you're a guy," Michelle challenged.

"No, I'm saying it because I'm _smart_ ," Aiden pressed.

"Ugh, I'm sorry I asked," Elizabeth grumbled. Glancing up at the two, she added, "Can we please get the present for Mommy and Daddy and go? It's kind of embarrassing being out in public with you guys."

Aiden and Michelle instantly flashed red, causing Elizabeth to recoil.

"What do you mean it's _embarrassing?!_ " Michelle barked.

"Exactly that," Elizabeth sighed, shaking her head.

"Yeah, well…have you ever thought that _we're_ embarrassed to be seen with _you_?" Aiden bit back.

"No, because I'm adorable, and I'm also way cooler than the two of you," Elizabeth refuted.

"Says who?" Aiden sneered.

"Says me," Elizabeth chirped before turning on a heel and flitting towards a saleswoman. Neither Aiden nor Michelle could react before their younger sister piped up, "excuse me?"

The woman turned and, as soon as she saw Elizabeth, her face lit up with recognition. That look was familiar to Elizabeth, but it disappeared almost as soon as it appeared. "Yes, how may I help you, dear?"

"I was looking at those poke balls in the window," Elizabeth elucidated, pointing towards them.

The saleswoman looked in that direction to see exactly what Elizabeth was referring to. "Oh yes, the love balls!"

"That's what they're called?" Elizabeth asked before giggling. "So cute!"

"You can use them to catch Pokémon of the opposite gender of the Pokémon you're using," the saleswoman explained. "We don't always have them; it's a special we're offering for Valentine's Day!"

"That's perfect!" Elizabeth squealed. "We'll take two of them!"

"Let me just check in the back," the saleswoman requested. "Those balls have been flying off the shelves!"

Elizabeth nodded her head as the woman sauntered away. Once she was gone, Elizabeth skipped back over to her perturbed siblings, beaming at them.

"Super easy," Elizabeth remarked, a smug look on her face.

"You know, it would've made a lot more sense for the _Pokémon trainers_ here to ask about buying poke balls," Michelle reminded her sister.

"Yeah, you're obviously too young to need them," Aiden added. "I don't even know why this lady is entertaining you."

"I already told you, it's because I'm cute," Elizabeth sighed. "Besides, what does she care if I'm too young to use one or not? They just want to sell stuff and make money!"

"And how does she know you have money?" Michelle prodded.

"She knows who I am, I could tell by her face," Elizabeth replied. "It's the same look _everyone_ gives me when they realize who I am."

"And that means you have money?" Aiden droned.

"No, but they know Mommy and Daddy do," Elizabeth muttered.

Aiden opened his mouth to argue, but quickly closed it when he realized the point Elizabeth had been trying to make all along. "Oh."

The saleswoman suddenly returned, a frown on her face. "I'm very sorry, but we're all out of love balls."

Elizabeth's face fell instantly. "What?!"

"The last two we have were put on hold yesterday for another customer," the saleswoman explained. "I didn't realize how quickly they'd sold out. I apologize."

Elizabeth frowned, but managed to reply, "It's okay. Thanks for checking."

She trudged back over to her older siblings, the pout still on her face.

"Well that didn't go the way we were hoping," Michelle sighed.

"Yeah, not even Elizabeth's cute face can make love balls appear out of thin air," Aiden quipped.

"Not funny!" Elizabeth cried.

"Now we're going to have find something else to get Mom and Dad," Michelle reminded her siblings. "We're seriously running out of time!"

"Well we ran out of ideas before we even started, so we might as well start running out of time too," Aiden commented.

Michelle groaned and rolled her eyes, frustrated by her brother's attitude. "That's not helping. Come on, let's keep looking."

She and her siblings turned towards the door, but before they could go out it, two other people appeared in the doorway…two people who were _very_ familiar to the kids.

"Mom? Dad?" Michelle squeaked.

Ash and Misty, for what it was worth, seemed just as surprised. Pichu, who had been in Misty's arms, instead jumped over to her trainer, while Pikachu, who was perched on Ash's shoulder, twitched his ears.

"What're you three doing here?" Misty asked.

"Um…shopping?" Michelle replied lamely.

"For what?" Misty prodded.

"It-it doesn't matter!" Michelle stammered, laughing nervously.

"Smooth," Aiden muttered, earning a glare from his twin.

"Wait, Aiden, you actually agreed to go shopping with your sisters?" Ash asked, pointing at his son. "Your mom had to bribe me with a Pokémon battle to come down here!"

Misty rolled her eyes at his exclamation. "Does it really surprise you Aiden's managed to gain more patience than you?"

"What? No way!" Aiden cried. "They _forced_ me to come here! All because we were trying to get you-"

Michelle quickly threw her hand over Aiden's mouth, while Elizabeth yanked at his shoulder and harshly shushed him.

"Trying to get us what?" Misty questioned, arching an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you guys are being weird," Ash added, folding his arms.

"Well, no use in hiding it now," Michelle grumbled, lowering her hand. "We were here trying to get you guys an anniversary present."

Ash and Misty's faces softened.

"You three didn't have to do that," Misty cooed.

"But we wanted to!" Elizabeth cried. "And we had the best idea ever, but they didn't have any more of what we wanted, so we couldn't do it. And then we got stuck."

"That's really sweet of you guys," Ash chuckled. "But Mom is right. You don't have to get us anything! Hanging out with you is more than enough."

"Well I wish we'd known that before we wasted our afternoon shopping," Aiden whined.

"Just out of curiosity, what were you trying to buy us?" Misty asked.

"Those love balls!" Elizabeth announced, pointing at the ones on display in the window.

Misty's eyes widened, which earned her another confused look from Ash.

"Oh, Misty! Good afternoon! You must be here to pick up your order!"

The gym leader laughed nervously (much like her older daughter before her had) and scurried over to the same saleswoman who had been assisting the children before.

"Liesel, shh! Not in front of Ash!" Misty whispered urgently.

"Oh!" She gasped, covering her mouth. "So sorry!"

"It's alright, don't worry about it," Misty giggled lightly.

"I'll go fetch that for you," Liesel assured her.

"Thank you!" Misty chirped as the saleswoman skirted away.

While she was distracted, Ash came up behind her and droned, "You sure look panicked when the kids brought up their gift idea."

Misty jumped, startled by Ash's sudden appearance, before defiantly huffing. "What?! No I didn't! You're totally making things up."

"Here you are!"

Liesel came running back out and handed Misty a box neatly wrapped in pink and red paper with a bow slapped on top.

"You're the best!" Misty chirped, taking the box from the saleswoman.

"What's in there?" Ash asked, glancing down at the box.

"Could you ever just be patient?" Misty scolded, moving the package away from him.

"No, not really," Ash replied plainly.

"Chu," Pikachu chimed in.

"Wait a second…" Michelle murmured so only her siblings could hear her. "We couldn't get the love balls because the last two had been put on hold for someone else. And if Mom had that already ordered…"

Aiden wasn't getting it, but Elizabeth apparently did, as she gasped very loudly.

"Mommy bought the last love balls!" She cried, just as loudly as she'd gasped before.

Misty shot her youngest daughter a horrified look, which in turn led Elizabeth to cover her mouth.

"Lizzie!" Aiden groaned.

Ash, on the other hand, appeared quite pleased. "Wow, you bought us love balls as an anniversary present?!"

"It was supposed to be a surprise," Misty grumbled. "I guess bringing you down here was a mistake."

"It's always a mistake to bring me shopping," Ash concurred.

Michelle sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "At least in the end they still got the love balls…"

Elizabeth's smile returned as she boasted, " _And_ it means I really did have the best gift idea!"

Aiden scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Great, case your ego _really_ needed more boosting…"


	60. Key Stone to My Heart

**I know little kids are usually really into shiny things...this is particularly dangerous in a world where Pokémon and their special evolutionary items exist ;)**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 2 years old**

* * *

 **Key Stone to My Heart**

Aiden didn't generally have an interest in his mother's jewelry.

He wasn't the kind of kid who dug around in her drawers or her closet for those kinds of things. Neither was his twin sister. Misty's sisters had told her that their daughters showed a penchant for fine things like jewelry and make up from a young age, and frequently snatched theirs without their knowledge. As a result, Misty had worried her children would display the same interests, and was grateful that so far, they hadn't caused any trouble in terms of swiping things that would be considered pricey or, even worse, sentimental.

The twins only seemed to show an attentiveness in such things when their parents actually had them on. Ash's Z-Power Ring was quite popular for the children to look at, especially when he switched the Z-Crystals around. Michelle also liked to point out his wedding band, which Ash then always happily told Michelle all about.

One afternoon, Ash and Misty had gone out to lunch with Brock, and of course brought their young twins along. Brock adored them like they were his own, and he never passed up the opportunity to spend time with them. Aiden had started to fuss, however; growing tired and cranky after finishing his food. So Misty sat the boy down on her lap, hoping to calm him down or, even better, begin to lull him to sleep.

"It figures Ash's kid would get grouchy when he runs out of food," Brock snickered, watching as Misty rubbed the toddler's back.

"At least I know when to put him down for a nap," Misty giggled. "Even though he _still_ tries to fight me on it…"

Sighing, Aiden turned to face his mother and took notice of her necklace. It was a silver chain attached to two silver bars. The young boy couldn't read yet, but if he could, he would've known that each bar was engraved with his and Michelle's names with a small, heart-shaped blue topaz beside each one.

Layered beneath that necklace, however, was another chain; one that was longer and dipped just beneath the neckline of Misty's shirt. Blinking, Aiden reached out with a small hand and gently tugged at the chain, freeing its pendant and causing his eyes to widen.

The small glass sphere, reflecting dazzling rainbow colors and the symbol of a DNA double helix in the middle, was something Aiden had never seen before. It was definitely more interesting than any other jewelry he'd ever seen on his mother.

"Mama!" Aiden cried, inadvertently interrupting the adults' conversation.

"What is it, baby?" Misty sighed, glancing down at her son.

The little boy clutched the rainbow pendant in his hand and squeaked, "What's dis?"

Misty let out a shallow breath when she realized what he was showing her. "Oh…that's a key stone, sweetie."

"Key –tone?" Aiden repeated.

"Mmhm," Misty intoned, gently taking the sphere into her own hands. "Mommy uses this to do something special with her Pokémon called mega evolution. You've never seen it before, but you will one day!"

Aiden's eyes shimmered at the prospect. He loved anything to do with Pokémon, so if this necklace involved them, then he was _definitely_ interested.

Brock, meanwhile, was surprised by this revelation. "Misty, he's really never watched you battle before?"

Misty shook her head. "I don't think he'd be able to sit through it. Not yet, at least. He's really starting to get into everything related to Pokémon, but the battles are still too long to hold his attention. He and Michelle can barely sit through five minutes of Ash's battles, but at least then I can keep an eye on them when they start to wander off. If they were doing that in the gym while I was battling, I'd totally get distracted and be too worried about watching them."

"She's a great mom," Ash proudly boasted before taking a sip of his soda.

Misty blushed slightly at the compliment. "Don't get me wrong; I'm so excited for the day both Aiden and Michelle can sit through a battle! Then I'll consider letting them watch me. But until then, I've just got to focus on keeping them out of trouble."

Ash glanced down at his son, and his smile widened. "Well, you don't have to worry about that right now."

Misty too turned her attention onto the boy. He had fallen asleep on her chest, the key stone clutched in his tiny fist. It was very cute, but Misty frowned a bit, realizing that her son was now totally enamored with the stone. Suddenly, she was a bit more worried about the safety of her jewelry.

And worse, considering the power this certain piece of jewelry wielded…her _son's_ safety.

 **XXX**

That same night, Ash and Misty were at home preparing for bed. Pikachu had already made himself comfortable on his trainer's pillow and was starting to doze off. Misty giggled softly at the mouse as she removed her earrings and placed them on the nightstand beside her bed. She had already changed into her pajamas, and just needed to finish taking off her jewelry before removing her make-up and brushing her teeth. Ash was already in the bathroom taking care of the latter task.

As she removed her key stone from around her neck, the baby monitor on the side table went off with a cry. Misty raised an eyebrow and picked up the device, staring at its small video screen.

"Michelle?" Ash asked as he emerged from the bathroom.

"No," Misty replied slowly.

Ash furrowed his brow. "Aiden? That's unusual."

"Maybe he had a nightmare," Misty murmured. She was just as confused as her husband. Aiden _was_ a light sleeper, but he still didn't wake up too often at this point; especially not in tears.

Ash flashed a smile at his befuddled wife. "I'll take care of him! You keep getting ready for bed."

Although she was still confused, Misty was relieved by Ash's offer. "Thanks, babe."

As she disappeared into the master bathroom, Ash walked down the hall and into the twins' bedroom to check on Aiden. He was still crying by the time Ash made it to the crib, which caused him to frown.

"Hey, buddy," Ash whispered, leaning over to gently rub the boy's chest. "It's okay, Daddy's here now."

The severity of Aiden's tears eased with Ash's voice and touch, but he was still sniffling and whining. Sighing, Ash picked his young son up, hoping that might soothe the toddler. Hugging him and bouncing him didn't do anything either, and after a while, Ash was worried that all of the noise Aiden was making would wake Michelle up. Wanting to avoid having to deal with two crying toddlers instead of one, Ash decided to bring Aiden back into his and Misty's bedroom and try to calm the boy down there instead.

Carrying Aiden into the room, Ash gently placed him down on the bed, intending to sit beside him. Aiden, instead, had other ideas, and chose to crawl up towards the pillows at the head of the bed, where Pikachu was settled. The electric mouse could sense the toddler coming towards him and opened his beady black eyes, watching Aiden carefully. As soon as Aiden locked eyes with Pikachu, the little boy began to laugh, and Ash let out a sigh of relief, happy that his son was no longer upset.

"What happened, champ?" Ash gently asked his son, regaining the boy's attention. "Did you have a bad dream? Is that why you woke up?"

Wordlessly, Aiden nodded his head.

"Aw, I'm sorry," Ash murmured. "Do you feel better now?"

Aiden nodded again.

"I'll go get you some water, does that sound good?" Ash questioned.

"Ya!" Aiden squeaked.

Ash chuckled, unable to help himself. His son was _so_ cute. "Alright. I'll be right back!"

He stepped into the bathroom, leaving Aiden and Pikachu to their own devices. Misty was just toweling off her face when he walked in, and she looked up at him as soon as she realized he was there.

"Did you manage to calm Aiden down?" She asked.

"Yeah but I brought him in here because I was worried he'd wake Michelle up," Ash replied. "He's hanging out on the bed with Pikachu now, and I told him I'd get him some water."

"We'll just have to make sure he doesn't spill it everywhere," Misty replied, putting her wash cloth down. "He seems to spill anything not in a sippy cup almost instantly."

Ash chuckled, knowing from experience that his wife was correct. "Don't worry, I'll help him out."

After filling a small paper cup with water, Ash walked back into the bedroom, this time with Misty trailing behind. Pikachu had fallen back asleep on Ash's pillow, while Aiden was lying on his stomach on top of Misty's.

"What is my silly little guy doing?" Misty cooed, walking over to the bed. She picked the toddler up, causing him to giggle, and rubbed her nose against his. "Oh, you're so sweet."

Ash, meanwhile, approached the two and held up the cup in his hand. "Here's your water, champ!"

He put the cup to the child's lips and gently tilted it back so the boy could drink the water out of it. Aiden managed to finish pretty quickly, considering the small size of the cup, and once he was finished, appeared to be growing sleepy again.

"I'll put him back in his crib," Misty offered, casting her eyes down towards Aiden as he rested his head on her shoulder.

"Sounds good," Ash replied quietly before ruffling the boy's hair. "Night, buddy!"

"Nigh nigh," Aiden mumbled, much to Ash's delight.

Misty too was smiling, and placed a hand on the back of her son's head as she carried him out of the room. "Come on, sweet boy. Time to go back to bed."

 **XXX**

The rest of the night went uninterrupted, much to Ash and Misty's relief. Though the twins were getting older, and generally slept throughout the night, some evenings were more difficult than others. They had feared the night before would be one of those, after Aiden's rare nightmare, but it ended up being a one and done situation.

Ash and Misty were instead woken up by sunlight pouring through their bedroom windows, and they were quite alright with that. Both decided to get dressed for the day before waking the twins, and _that's_ when the trouble started.

When Misty reached for her jewelry, she instantly realized something was missing. She sifted through her rings, and her bar necklace…

"Uh…" Misty muttered.

Ash heard her low voice and raised an eyebrow as Pikachu jumped up on his shoulder. "Something wrong, Mist?"

The gym leader looked nervously over her shoulder. "My key stone is missing…"

Ash's eyes widened, and Pikachu's head shot up. "Seriously?"

"I left it on my nightstand last night, like I always do," Misty grumbled, looking back over at the small table. "But now it's not here."

"But where could it have gone?" Ash asked rhetorically. "We were in here all night…maybe Vaporeon knocked it off? You know sometimes she likes to swat things around."

"Vaporeon slept downstairs last night," Misty sighed, shaking her head.

"Maybe she snuck in here at some point?" Ash tried.

"No, she pretty much stays in one place," Misty refuted. "Besides, I've become such a light sleeper with the twins that I _definitely_ would've heard her come into our room. Or anyone else, for that matter."

"Pika…" Pikachu breathed. He jumped right off of Ash's shoulder and scurried atop the bed towards the nightstand, sniffing its surface where Misty's key stone had been the night before.

"That's right, Pikachu could probably track it down!" Ash gushed. "He's great at finding things, especially when the twins lose them."

That caused Misty's eyes to widen. "The twins…"

She got to her feet and marched out of the room. Both Ash and Pikachu appeared confused by Misty's sudden departure, and without a second thought, they followed after her; straight into Aiden and Michelle's room.

The little girl on the left side of the room was still asleep, but her brother was awake and standing up, beaming at his mother as soon as she walked in.

"Mama!" Aiden squeaked.

"Good morning, baby," Misty crooned sweetly, though she still had her hand nervously clutched in front of her chest. She walked up to the crib and peered inside, looking around. Aiden laughed at this, unaware of what his mother was actually doing.

"Mist…" Ash tried.

"Oh, I know it's got to be in here somewhere," Misty groaned, cutting him off. "Aiden's the only one who could've taken it! He was in our room, after all, and he was really interested in it at lunch. I'm not gonna be mad or anything…he's just a baby, after all. But I _do_ need to find it! It's definitely not safe for a two year old to have…"

Pikachu's nose suddenly twitched, which caused his ears to spring up. The mouse climbed right into Aiden's crib, causing the toddler even more delight. Nudging the boy's pillow away, Pikachu's eyes shimmered when he spotted none other than Misty's missing key stone.

"There it is!" Misty gasped, grabbing the piece of jewelry. "You're the best, Pikachu!"

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu chirped, smiling at the gym leader.

Aiden frowned when he realized his mother had reclaimed the key stone. Whining, he reached out for the small rainbow sphere, which Misty wound up hiding inside her fist.

"I knew he was starting to love Pokémon more and more, but this is getting crazy," Misty sighed. "I'm just glad Pikachu and Vaporeon can't mega evolve! I'm almost positive he would've tried that by now."

Ash chuckled and knelt down in front of his young son. "You're a smart little guy, aren't you?"

"Ya!" Aiden laughed, finally cheering up.

"Ash, come on," Misty groaned, slipping the necklace back around her neck. "This is serious! We can't have our kids messing around with things like key stones. What do you think would happen if Aiden managed to get his hands on one of your z-crystals?"

"Not much," Ash replied with a shrug. "He doesn't know how to do the poses. And without those, a z-crystal won't do much of anything."

"Pi-kachu," Pikachu confirmed, hopping back up on his trainer's shoulder as Aiden watched.

"Well if he starts paying attention during battles, he's gonna pick it up pretty quickly," Misty reasoned with her husband.

"Probably," he admitted, much to her frustration. "But the good news is he doesn't really pay attention right now! So we don't have to worry too much."

Misty sighed as Aiden began to fuss. Knowing what he wanted, Misty lifted him out of the crib and instead held the boy against her hip, which settled him down.

"I think you should try and wake Michelle up," Misty informed her husband, deciding she no longer wanted to discuss their son's emerging affinity with her key stone. "I'll bring this little guy downstairs and start getting breakfast ready."

Ash was about to agree, but stopped when he saw what Aiden was doing. "Uh, Mist…"

Realizing where her husband was looking, Misty glanced down and noticed that Aiden was once again clutching her key stone in his hand. "Oh, Arceus."

For what it was worth, Ash appeared quite proud. "He already knows the good stuff when it comes to training Pokémon!"

"Yeah, and he knows how to freak his mother out," Misty grumbled.

Aiden held the key stone out towards Pikachu, who tilted his head in response. "Pika, mega ev-ove!"

Pikachu, who of course couldn't do that, simply blinked his eyes and squeaked, "chu?"

Misty groaned and lowered her son's hand. "Let's not show him any battles involving mega evolution until he's 10."

"Can we show him z-moves then?" Ash asked hopefully.

"Um, no, definitely not."


	61. Tempered Tantrums

**It's been a while, eh? I've been so swamped with work and school...bleh. I decided I needed a break, though, and gave myself the time to proofread this one I've had saved up!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 3 years old**

* * *

 **Tempered Tantrums**

Anyone who knew Ash Ketchum would tell you he was one of the easiest going, happiest guys they'd ever met. It took a lot to test him, as he usually just went with the flow, all with a smile on his face; no matter the challenge at hand.

His children, however, were proving to be pretty good at breaking all of that down…at least recently.

It's not like they'd never had tantrums before, but as soon as Aiden and Michelle hit the age of three, it felt like constant meltdowns…and generally, they were over very minor things. Aiden was told he couldn't have a cookie? Tantrum. Michelle being asked to put a toy away? Tantrum. Trying to get both kids into the tub? You guessed it; tantrums. And sharing with one another? That was a _huge_ issue and had become the number one trigger for big tantrums.

Misty had reached her wit's end long before Ash did. She had figured out pretty early on that if the twins were going to act like that, she would just walk away and let them throw a fit until they wore themselves out. Ash, however, was more sympathetic to the children's plight and frequently tried to talk them down whenever they threw one of their tantrums.

"Why do you waste your time?" Misty asked Ash over Michelle's latest breakdown; this one because one of her crayons had broken. "You _know_ there's no getting through to them when they're like this."

"I might as well _try_ ," Ash pressed, looking over his shoulder. He was kneeling down by Michelle, where he'd been trying to coax her back into calmness. "Maybe it'll work this time!"

"You always say that," Misty grumbled, resting her head in her hand. "Seriously, come here. She'll tire herself out."

Ash took one last look at the miserable toddler before sighing and approaching his wife, sitting down beside her on the couch. She too was watching Michelle, her eyes tired and her arms crossed against her chest.

"These freak outs may never end," Misty sighed miserably.

Ash shot her an incredulous look. "Come on; they'll have to grow out of it eventually! They're not gonna be 10 years old and throwing tantrums."

"I sure hope not," Misty muttered, shaking her head. "I guess it's just hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel right now. We're constantly walking on eggshells around these two; we don't know what's going to set them off. It's exhausting."

Michelle suddenly sat up, looking straight at her parents. Her face was red and streaked with tears, but she looked tired, and it seemed that she was finally done carrying on for the time being.

"Are you ready to take a nap?" Misty patiently asked. The little girl nodded and rubbed at one of her eyes before reaching out towards her mother. With a weary breath, Misty got up from the couch and lifted her daughter into her arms. "Mommy is too…"

Ash smiled at the sleepy Michelle before Misty carried her up the stairs, presumably to her bedroom where she'd be laid down for a much needed nap. It didn't take long for Misty to return to the living room, somehow looking even more worn than she had five minutes ago. Groaning, she threw herself down on the couch, resting her head on Ash's lap.

"I'm tired," Misty whined with a muffled voice, sounding scarily identical to her and Ash's two young children.

Ash chuckled and rested a hand on her back. "So why don't you take a nap, too?"

Misty slowly turned her head to frown at her husband. "I haven't gotten a decent night's sleep in three years, let alone taken a nap."

"Yes you have," Ash scoffed playfully.

Misty narrowed her eyes at the challenge. "My life hasn't been in my own control since you put those kids in me."

Ash smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "But you're not actually mad about it, right?"

The gym leader sighed and relented, "no. I love them way too much."

"Thought so," Ash boasted, puffing his chest out. He was always pleased when he was right; it seemed to be a rare occurrence when Misty was involved, although he'd gotten much better at it over the years.

"I just wish they'd stop with the tantrums," Misty complained, putting her head back down.

"They will eventually," Ash reiterated.

"I also wish you'd stop trying to talk sense into them," Misty added.

Ash sighed. He knew this would come back up. "I just feel like if I get on their level and explain to them that what they're upset about isn't such a big deal, they may understand and calm down a lot quicker."

"It's a logical thought," Misty agreed. "But, unfortunately for us, three year olds aren't logical. In fact, they're pretty much the exact opposite. I don't want you to get frustrated trying to chill them out."

Confused by this, Ash replied, "You get frustrated with it all the time."

"Which is why I walk away," Misty was quick to remind him. "It's not worth getting stressed out about. That's what I'm trying to have you avoid."

Ash thought about it for a moment as he threaded Misty's hair through his fingers. Finally, he determined, "I won't get stressed out."

Misty was not convinced, but she chose not to broach the subject any further. "Hey, I'll take a nap if you take one with me."

If she had looked up again, she would've seen a near foolish grin appear on Ash's face. "You've got yourself a deal!"

 **XXX**

The gym was unusually busy the next day.

It wasn't abnormal for Misty to have challengers, or even multiple challengers in one day, but this particular day seemed to be pretty extreme. There was one challenger after another, and they just kept on coming.

So Ash's day off, which he had been hoping to parlay into time with his family, had turned into him watching his moody three year old twins alone. He figured if he could keep things light, and not get the twins overly worked up, they wouldn't have any tantrums and the day would go smoothly.

That lasted for all of about 15 minutes.

He had decided to play with blocks with Aiden and Michelle, figuring it was a pretty calm activity that they could all do together. Even Pikachu was able to join in on the fun! Michelle had built herself a "pwetty castle" from the colorful wooden bricks that she was quite proud of. As Ash complimented her on it, however, Aiden reached out and knocked the tower down. Immediately, Michelle burst into tears, while Aiden just looked bewildered.

"Aiden!" Ash scolded. "That wasn't nice! Apologize to your sister."

Instead of doing what Ash had instructed, Aiden started wailing as well.

"Pi…" Pikachu whined, glancing sadly at the toddlers.

"Hey, stop crying," Ash gently ordered his son. "I didn't even yell at you! I just want you to say sorry to Michelle for knocking her blocks over!"

Aiden only cried louder. Michelle, who was still sobbing as well, leaned over towards Aiden and smacked his arm. Somehow, the little boy managed to amp the volume up even more.

"Michelle!" Ash gasped. "No hitting!"

The little girl continued to cry, throwing herself down on the floor and kicking her legs.

"You both need to say sorry to each other!" Ash growled over both of their sobs. "Don't make me count to three!"

Both kids continued crying, not even attempting to speak to one another. His frustration starting to build, Ash crossed his arms and declared, "If you guys can't settle down and apologize, you're both getting a time out."

That threat did nothing to the twins. They were too far gone in their own misery to even hear it. Clenching his teeth, Ash got to his feet and picked the two up, carrying them into the kitchen as they both continued to carry on. He placed Aiden in one chair and Michelle in another, turning them away from each other. They were still throwing their tantrums, but Ash was too worn down to care. He trudged back into the living room, leaving the screaming twins behind, and sunk down onto the couch, burying his face in his hands.

"Pikapi," Pikachu murmured softly, scurrying over to join his trainer on the sofa.

"Misty's right," Ash groaned, slowly lowering his hands. "There's no talking to them."

"Pi ka."

Ash sighed and glanced towards the kitchen. Aiden and Michelle were still screaming and crying. Part of him was tempted to go back in and try to rein them in again, but he knew it wouldn't do him any good. If anything, it'd probably only make him feel worse.

"Well, they can't keep screaming forever," Ash huffed, picking up the remote. "Might as well try and pass the time until they settle down."

He started flipping through the channels, trying to find something to watch. Pikachu had sprawled himself across his trainer's lap, keeping his own eyes on the screen as well. There didn't seem to be much on, however, and Ash was quickly beginning to lose interest in it. Fortunately, just as he turned the TV off, Aiden and Michelle came slinking back into the living room, both of them finally having calmed down. Ash turned his head towards the two and raised his eyebrows.

"Are we done being naughty?" Ash asked patiently. Aiden and Michelle both nodded. "Good! You guys want to play something else?"

"Ya!" Aiden squeaked, causing Ash to chuckle.

"Alright," he replied, getting to his feet as Pikachu jumped to the floor. "Hey, I have an idea! Daddy needs to groom his Pokémon. Would you two like to help me?"

They both grinned and nodded, this time more vigorously than before. Aiden and Michelle were starting to get really into Pokémon, and they always wanted to help out with them. Things like feeding and grooming were easy enough for a couple of toddlers, so Ash and Misty always tried to get them involved with those tasks.

"Kay, let's go!" Ash cheered, waving the twins back towards the kitchen. "Follow Daddy!"

Michelle hopped alongside him, excitedly babbling, "bwush the Po-mon! Bwush the Po-mon!"

"Yeah, you're gonna brush the Pokémon," Ash replied, opening up the backdoor. Aiden, Michelle, and Pikachu ran past him into the backyard, leaving Ash to close the door behind him.

"Daddy, Po-mon!" Aiden cried, reaching his hand up.

"I've gotta let them out first," Ash said, taking his poke balls off his belt. "You wanna see who Daddy has today?"

Aiden beamed and nodded his head.

Tossing the spheres in the air, Ash released Donphan, Noivern, Buizel, Hawlucha, and Staraptor. Pikachu ran over to the other Pokémon, jovially greeting them and earning an equally pleasant response from the group.

"We're going to give everyone a bath," Ash informed the twins. "Then we can dry them off and brush them!"

"Bwush!" Michelle repeated.

"Yep," Ash chuckled. "So, who should we start with?"

"Beezel!" Michelle shouted, pointing at the sea weasel Pokémon.

"Buizel?" Ash asked, earning a nod from Michelle. "Okay then! You're up first, Buizel!"

"Bui bui!"

It was a good choice by Michelle. Since Buizel was a water type, he didn't mind being bathed. Ash would've liked to think Michelle knew that by virtue of spending so much time with her mother, but Ash knew it was likely because Michelle really liked Buizel. She thought he was cute and cuddly, and even though Buizel wasn't always in the mood to be fussed over, he generally sucked it up and let Michelle do just that.

Ash went to retrieve the hose, turning on the nozzle as he dragged the rubber hose towards his patiently waiting water type. Pikachu had already fetched a bucket to fill up, and Aiden was holding a bottle of shampoo in his hands.

"Aiden, you want to pour some of that soap in the bucket?" Ash asked.

Aiden nodded and tilted the bottle over so he could squeeze it in. Michelle, however, started to fuss and reach over for the bottle, wanting to pour it in as well.

"No!" Aiden whined, moving it away from her.

"Mine!" Michelle cried, running to Aiden's other side to try and get a better grab at the bottle.

Ash groaned internally. "Guys, don't fight! I can give you something to do too, Michelle."

He held a sponge out towards the girl. Fortunately, she was interested enough in it that she gave up on trying to snatch the bottle from her brother's hands and gravitated towards the sponge instead.

"You're gonna put this in the bucket and then use it to wash Buizel, kay?" Ash asked. Michelle nodded and took the sponge from him, doing exactly as he'd requested. "Here, Aiden! I have one for you too!"

He gave Aiden the second sponge, and the boy followed his sister's lead. Michelle, however was displeased with sharing the responsibility of washing Buizel. She wanted to do it on her own.

"No!" Michelle whined, holding a hand out towards Aiden. "I do it!"

"You guys can both do it," Ash informed his daughter. "It'll go faster that way!"

" _Nooo_ ," Michelle cried. Reaching over, she grabbed Aiden's sponge and tried to rip it from his grasp. Aiden started to protest loudly, trying to pull the sponge back towards him. Buizel watched the twins nervously, trying to back away from the quickly erupting fight.

"Michelle, stop it!" Ash warned. "Leave your brother alone!"

She finally succeeded in taking Aiden's sponge, falling down as she did so. Aiden started crying, because his sponge had been ripped away, and Michelle started crying, because she'd hit the ground. Buizel's mouth hung open, and the other Pokémon also seemed bewildered by what was unfolding before them. All except for Pikachu, of course, who was used to this kind of occurrence and simply sighed.

"You two are out of control today," Ash grumbled. He put the hose down and got up to lift Michelle back to her feet, taking Aiden's sponge from her and giving it back to the boy. Aiden stopped crying once he had it back, but Michelle only started to cry _more_. "Michelle, you're going to get another timeout. Is that what you want?"

The little girl shrieked and began stomping her feet. Growling, Ash picked Michelle up and carried her over to one of the patio chairs, sitting her down on it as she continued to scream and cry. "You can stay right here until you decide to relax and apologize to Aiden."

He walked away from his daughter, who was valiantly continuing her tantrum, and resisted the urge to start screaming himself.

 **XXX**

"Ash, I'm ba-what happened to you?"

Misty had been met with the sight of her husband, who was back on the couch but looking far more disheveled than when he'd been sitting there before. His hair was a mess (even more so than usual) and he looked totally worn down.

"Aiden and Michelle have been fighting and having tantrums all day," Ash replied statically, still staring at the wall across from him. "I lost track of how many time outs I put them in."

Misty was about to say something, but suddenly changed course when she asked, "wait, _you_ actually put them in time out?"

Ash nodded.

"Wow, they must've been _really_ bad," Misty remarked, sounding almost impressed.

"It made me realize why you gave up on ever trying to talk them down," Ash sighed.

"Mmm," Misty intoned and walked over to sit beside him. "It's a lot. I know."

"You may be right," Ash continued, resting his head in his hand. "They might never stop."

"Oh, don't listen to me," Misty scoffed, waving a hand at him. "I was just being a little dramatic yesterday. You should know to tune me out when I get frustrated like that!"

"But then I'd never be able to talk _you_ down," Ash gently challenged.

Misty thought about it for a moment before tilting her head. "Good point."

Ash smirked. Giggling softly, Misty leaned back and wrapped her arms around herself.

"They'll stop eventually," Misty declared. "It'll just take some time. We can definitely work on the sharing thing. I've already started looking up methods for that, and I think I've found some that might help us. And they'll figure out sooner or later that not _everything_ warrants a meltdown."

Although Ash still wasn't convinced, he nodded his head in order to move on from the subject. Misty seemed to sense that, so she just smiled and decided to start a different conversation.

"Where are they now?" She asked conversationally.

"Upstairs, taking their naps," Ash replied.

"The one upside about those tantrums is that they really wear those kids out," Misty murmured. "At least that gives me time to relax a bit before I start making dinner."

Ash remained silent for a short moment before asking, "You want to take a nap with me?"

Misty looked up at Ash and smirked. As soon as she did, he did as well.

"You've got yourself a deal!"


	62. Read All About It

**Last chapter was heavy on Ash and the twins, so figured it was turn for some Misty with their "sweet" older kids ;)**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 9 years old**

* * *

 **Read All About It**

"Whatcha lookin- at?"

Michelle shrieked and pulled her magazine closer to her chest before narrowing her eyes. "Aiden, you scared me!"

"Yeah, that was kinda the point," Aiden chuckled, leaning back. He had plopped himself down on the couch in order to get as close to Michelle as possible in his (successful) attempt to spook her.

"Well quit it," Michelle grumbled, glaring at her brother before slowly returning her gaze to her magazine.

Aiden shifted his eyes around before continuing, "I _am_ still curious about what you're reading."

Michelle scoffed. "Since when do you care?"

"Since now," Aiden replied earnestly. "Come on, just show me!"

"No."

Aiden looked offended. "You're really not gonna share with your brother? Your _twin_ brother?"

"No," Michelle repeated.

Growling lowly, Aiden got to his feet and relented, "alright, you win. I'll leave you alone."

"How generous of you," Michelle droned sarcastically, sounding remarkably like her mother.

Aiden slowly started to walk past Michelle, but in one swift motion, reached out and snatched the magazine from her hands, making a run for it. Michelle snarled and jumped to her feet, storming after her brother. " _AIDEN!_ "

Without a second thought, Aiden hopped up onto the kitchen table, holding the magazine in front of him and reciting the title on the cover. " _Litten Beat_? Isn't this one of those cheesy magazines they make for girls?"

"No!" Michelle spat. The blush on her face implied otherwise.

Aiden clicked his tongue. "Michelle Aimi Ketchum, I thought you were smarter than that! How does a brilliant girl like you go from reading super long novels to this rag?"

"I'm allowed to like different things, you know," Michelle grumbled indignantly, crossing her arms.

"Well…let's see what exactly you were so absorbed in," Aiden sighed, turning the magazine around so he could look at the page Michelle had been reading before he'd snatched it.

"Don't you dare!" Michelle snapped, leaning forward on the balls of her feet.

Clearing his throat, Aiden dramatically read, " _All about Sterling Stone; The Pokémon World's Smartest (and Cutest) Trainer!_ "

"Aiden…" Michelle warned, her voice low.

The boy lowered the magazine and smirked at his sister. "You've _still_ got the hots for him? It's been five years!"

"Give me back my magazine," Michelle demanded, holding her hand out.

"Sterling Stone, son of former Hoenn champion Steven Stone and former Sinnoh champion Cynthia Stone," Aiden continued reading. "Birthday is September 28. He's 12 years old. His partner Pokémon is a Metagross who evolved all the way from a Beldum that his father gave him, though he also frequently uses his Gabite as well, especially in major tournaments."

"Aiden, I swear…" Michelle hissed.

"Also, this headline is a total joke," Aiden snorted, flicking the article's title. "It'll just be outdated next year when _I_ become the cutest Pokémon trainer!"

Michelle's face softened as a mischievous smirk appeared on her face. "Aw, I didn't know _Mom_ was writing for _Litten Beat_!"

Aiden scowled as he lowered the magazine. "I'll have you know I _constantly_ receive comments about how cute I am; it's not just Mom who thinks so."

"Then those three people should probably get their eyes checked," Michelle deadpanned.

Aiden was about to fire back at her, but then he realized it wasn't worth wasting his breath over. There were much, _much_ better ways to get back at her than just yelling. Smirking, Aiden knelt down in front of Michelle, covering his face with the magazine so he was hidden behind Sterling Stone's.

"Marry me, Michelle," Aiden breathed in a cool voice, doing his best to imitate the young trainer. "Make all my dreams come true."

Michelle's upper lip curled. "I really hate you right now."

"Is that truly how you feel about me?" Aiden sighed, continuing to impersonate Sterling. "I thought you _loved_ me. You kissed me, right on this page!"

" _No I didn't!_ " Michelle shrieked, finally managing to snatch the magazine away from Aiden. He began to laugh hysterically, falling on his side and rolling across the table as he chortled. "Ugh, you're so immature!"

"Aiden, Michelle, I…oh, Aiden, really?"

The boy suddenly stopped laughing and slowly looked up, finding his mother standing nearby with a disapproving look on her face.

"Will you get off the kitchen table?" Misty chastised, sounding more exhausted than anything. "We eat on there, for Arceus' sake."

"Uh…sorry, Mom," Aiden apologized sheepishly, dismounting the table and landing on the hardwood floor.

Narrowing her eyes, Michelle turned towards her mother and informed her, "the only reason Aiden was up there was because he literally took my magazine out of my hands and was playing keep away with it!"

Misty's exasperation only grew. "Seriously, Aiden?"

"I can't help it that she's such an easy target," Aiden dismissed, shrugging his shoulders.

"You two were so sweet with one another when you were little," Misty sighed, longing for those distant days. "Always holding hands and cuddling with one another…now all you do is go out of your way to annoy each other."

"That's because Michelle wasn't _in love_ when we were little," Aiden taunted, causing Michelle's fierce blush to return.

"In love?" Misty repeated. "Who is she in love with?"

"No one!" Michelle cried.

"Sterling Stone!" Aiden rushed out, a delirious grin on his face. "Michelle was ogling at his picture in that magazine!"

He pointed at the issue in Michelle's hands, leading Misty to raise an eyebrow. Michelle huffed and hid it behind her back, as if that would get her mother to forget about it.

"Can I see?" Misty asked, holding her hand out and wiggling her fingers.

"What?!" Michelle yelped. "No, Mom!"

"I just want to see what he looks like," Misty tried. "He was such a cute little boy! I'm sure by now he's quite handsome."

Reluctantly, Michelle handed the magazine over to her mother. Misty examined the picture of him before showing off a sweet smile. "Yep, very handsome! He's always been a perfect mix of Steven and Cynthia. I certainly don't blame you for still having a crush on him, Shelly!"

Aiden snickered as Michelle's blush somehow managed to deepen. "Thanks, Mom."

"What's he up to nowadays?" Misty wondered, her eyes continuing to scan the page.

"Mom, are you seriously reading that article?" Michelle muttered.

"Oh, he's in Sinnoh now," Misty breathed. "He started his journey in Hoenn. Yes, I remember hearing about him competing in the Ever Grande Conference last year! Dad was very impressed with him."

"Don't you _have_ to be impressive if you're the kid of two champions?" Aiden scoffed.

"Of course not, just look at you," Michelle quipped.

"Nice try, but Mom's not a champion," Aiden huffed, sticking his tongue out at his sister.

"Come on, you two, quit fighting."

Aiden and Michelle turned their attention back onto their mother, who sounded a bit distracted. As it turned out, she was still scanning the article in Michelle's magazine.

"Mom, I think you're getting a little too into that," Michelle murmured.

"It's just funny reading this kind of stuff," Misty giggled. "I used to read magazines like this all the time when I was your age. Now everything in here is about the kids of people I _know!_ "

" _You_ read that _junk?_ " Aiden gasped, pointing at the magazine.

"It is not junk!" Misty sighed, almost dramatically. "This is a huge part of being a young girl. It's hard to resist the allure of knowing what type you'd be if you were a Pokémon."

Michelle's eyes lit up at the mention. "I got water on that quiz!"

"Me too!" Misty puffed. "That's how I knew it was legit."

Aiden groaned and rolled his eyes. "This family is a mess."

Michelle smirked at her brother. "You're just mad you didn't get to take the quiz."

"No, I really don't care," Aiden deadpanned.

"You'd have probably ended up as a dark type or something like that anyway," Michelle mused, her lips bending into a sly smile. "Considering you're always so rude and grouchy."

"Mom!" Aiden whined.

"Michelle," Misty warned.

The younger red head fluttered her eyelashes at her mother. "Would it help if I told you I gave Lizzie the quiz and she got fairy type?"

"That's very sweet of you, and super cute, but it doesn't excuse you being mean to your brother," Misty replied, shaking her head. "Speaking of Lizzie, I have to go wake her up from her nap. We're meeting Dad for dinner soon, so I need her to be fully awake before we go. You two should start getting ready too."

"What's wrong with the way I'm dressed now?" Aiden complained, motioning to his t-shirt and jeans.

"The outfit's not bad," Misty reasoned with him. "I mostly meant brushing out your hair. It looks like a Rattata's nest."

Now it was Aiden's turn to blush. Michelle began to giggle, and Aiden shot her a nasty glare. Misty missed it this time, because she was busying herself with flipping through the rest of the magazine. Michelle finally realized what her mother was doing, and her expression quickly became static.

"Um, Mom, maybe you _should_ go wake Lizzie up…"

"I'm going to, sweetheart," Misty assured her, still sounding distant.

"So how about you give me the magazine and you can take care of that?" Michelle asked, forcing a caring tone. Aiden raised an eyebrow, sensing that his sister was up to something.

"Sure…" Misty trailed off, hitting a page that seemed to pique her interest. She blinked once, then twice, then looked up at her daughter.

"Uh…what's up?" Michelle questioned awkwardly.

Wordlessly, Misty flipped the magazine upside down. A large poster unfurled, revealing the image of none other than _Ash_ , surrounded by pink hearts.

"Okay, so the downside of these magazines is that Dad always ends up in them," Michelle grumbled, squeezing the bridge of her nose while Aiden pulled a look of horror. "Girls _really_ like him, apparently."

Misty still wasn't saying anything. She was now twisting the magazine to face her, scanning the cartoonish poster of her husband. Aiden and Michelle were fully expecting her to freak out about it, thanks to her notorious jealousy streak, and braced themselves for the reaction.

So they were both stunned when, instead, their mother started laughing. _Uncontrollably._

"You okay, Mom?" Aiden asked unsurely.

"This is the dorkiest thing I've _ever_ seen," Misty stated bluntly, not bothering to take her eyes off of the poster. "Look at his face! They actually chose _the_ most _uncomfortable_ photo of him imaginable. And look at all those giant pink hearts! Oh my gosh, this is _gold_."

Aiden and Michelle were still stunned. Neither one knew what to say, or even how to react.

"You know who would love this?" Misty sighed, not processing that her children were not responding to her. "Your little sister. I'm really tempted to give this to her to hang up in her room just so your father has to look at it every day."

"Wait, so you think the poster is _funny?_ " Aiden muttered, trying to make sure he understood. "You're not annoyed by it?"

"How can I be annoyed by this?" Misty asked, pointing at Ash's face on the poster. "It looks like he was threatened into taking this photo. It's perfectly terrible!"

Misty continued giggling to herself as she walked towards the stairs, bringing the magazine with her. Aiden and Michelle watched her go before exchanging bemused looks.

"I love Mom, but she _really_ confuses me sometimes," Aiden remarked.

"You and me both…" Michelle muttered.


	63. Ash Sitting

**It's been a minute! I lost track of how long it's been since my last upload; I was so busy finishing up my semester and switching offices at my job! Very excited to be bringing you all a new one today!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 8 years old**

 **Elizabeth: 2 years old**

* * *

 **Ash Sitting**

"Could you please give Elizabeth these Goldeen crackers?"

Ash blinked hard as Misty thrust a pink plastic snack cup in his face. "None for Aiden and Michelle?"

"They didn't ask," Misty puffed. "Well, technically, Elizabeth didn't either. She demanded. Then I reminded her we ask nicely for things…and she demanded again."

Ash chuckled and took the cup from his wife. "Sure, no problem! I think I'll pour some for the twins too, just in case. And maybe also me."

Misty smirked and shook her head; a rare reprieve from her mounting stress.

Being married to Misty gave Ash the opportunity to better expect and understand her various moods. Today, he knew she was tense because the Pokémon Inspection Agency was coming to check in on the gym. He hated to see her worked up, but was also relieved it had nothing to do with him.

"Are you sure you don't want me to call your mother, or mine?" Misty asked nervously, turning towards Ash. He had busied himself with pouring more Goldeen crackers into an additional three snacks cups, but stopped and raised an eyebrow when Misty posed the questions. "Or even my sisters! I know they can drive you crazy, but-"

"Mist, I'm more than capable of watching after our kids," Ash scoffed, returning to his current task. "I don't need an extra babysitter."

"It's not that I don't think you're capable," Misty calmly defended herself. "It's just with Elizabeth being a two year old and the twins being, well, the twins…the three of them all together with only one adult can be trying. Even _I_ want to pull my hair out with all of them sometimes."

"I will have them under control," Ash promised. "And if things start to get too crazy, I can just turn to Michelle and plead with her. She's more like a small adult than a kid most of the time, anyway."

Misty groaned and furrowed her brow. "I guess…"

"You're already worried enough about the gym," Ash continued, gathering the now full cups in his arms. "You don't need to add me and the kids on top of that. Just head over there and don't think about anything that's going on over here."

"Easier said than done," Misty challenged.

"Fair point, but you've gotta try!" Ash pressed. "So go. And don't think I won't know if you start thinking about us! I'll be able to sense it."

Misty scoffed. "Sense it? Really?"

Ash nodded his head. "Our connective powers are quite alarming, really."

"I'm sure," Misty purred as she playfully rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll do my best."

"That's the spirit!" Ash cheered.

She quickly kissed him on the cheek before heading out the front door, officially leaving Ash alone in the kitchen. Grinning to himself, he walked out through the foyer and into the living room, where the three aforementioned children were all gathered. Elizabeth had been hanging over the side of the couch, but as soon as she saw her father, her eyes sparked to life and she jumped up.

"Aw, you're happy to see me, Lizzie?" Ash cooed.

The toddler eagerly pointed to the cups in his arms. "Go-deen cwackews!"

Ash faltered as he remembered what his daughter had really wanted. "Oh, right…"

She slid off the couch and ran up to him, desperately reaching up for her snack. Ash knelt down, and as expected, Elizabeth grabbed the pink cup and scurried back off with it.

"You brought all of those for Lizzie?" Aiden asked incredulously, having finally looked away from the TV.

"No, I also brought some for you, me, and Michelle!" Ash replied cheerfully.

Michelle beamed and abandoned her book to instead take one of the extra three cups from her father. "Thanks, Daddy!"

"Goldeen crackers?" Aiden scoffed.

"What, you're too cool for them?" Ash teased.

Aiden blushed a bit before begrudgingly admitting, "No, I love those." He too got to his feet and took his own cup, carrying it back over to the TV.

"So Mom's at the gym for most of the day," Ash reminded his children. "The inspection is today, and-"

"Oh, is _that_ why she was so testy this morning?" Michelle asked before tossing one of the cheddar crackers into her mouth.

"Um…yeah," Ash replied, blinking.

"I almost thought she was gonna throw a chair at the wall," Aiden chimed in. "That would've been really cool!"

"No, don't give her any ideas," Ash groaned, sinking down on the floor next to his son. "When your mother is _that_ stressed out, anything is possible."

Michelle contemplated it for a moment before responding, "I believe it."

"Anyway, while she's out, it's just you guys and me," Ash continued. "Maybe we could do something fun together!"

"You know what's fun?" Aiden asked before pointing at the TV.

Ash blinked and looked towards the screen. "The Starmies game from last night?"

"Yeah, because it was so thrilling the first time around," Michelle droned, rolling her eyes.

"Uh, it actually was," Aiden growled back. "It was a super exciting game! They hit four different home runs!"

"Doesn't mean you need to watch the whole thing all over again," Michelle nearly snapped.

Ash laughed nervously, hoping to diffuse the situation. It seemed to do the trick, for now. "Well, we can do something other than watch TV!"

"Like what?" Michelle asked, although she sounded rather disinterested. She had already returned to reading her book, lazily picking Goldeen crackers out of the cup she'd perched on the armrest next to her.

"Uh…well…"

Aiden allowed his eyes to trail from the TV screen back to his father as he struggled to come up with something. Elizabeth, who had been watching quietly the whole time after getting back up on the couch with her crackers, slid down once more and flitted over to Ash.

"Daddy?" Elizabeth squeaked, catching his attention.

Ash looked over at the toddler and smiled. "What's up, baby girl?"

The toddler dramatically threw herself down on his lap, alarming him. "Bowed."

"Oh, you're bored," Ash sighed. "I'm _trying_ to think of something fun to do, sweetie!" Suddenly, he perked up, and a smile quickly followed. "I know! Why don't we go for a nice walk?"

"A walk?" Aiden repeated, frowning. "That sounds really boring if we're not actually going to do anything."

Ash was surprised. "You used to love going for walks!"

"Yeah, when I was a kid," Aiden calmly argued.

"You're still a kid," Michelle scoffed. "You might actually be an even bigger kid now."

Aiden's face started to burn red, and Ash knew the two were about to start some kind of fight. "Alright! Come on, let's head out! Maybe we'll find somewhere fun to go, Aiden. Like…oh! I know! How about the bakery downtown? We could pick up some cookies for later! I bet that'd make Mom really happy, too!"

Although he still seemed annoyed by his sister's comment, Aiden managed to settle down and mutter, "Yeah, that's fine."

"Great!" Ash practically heaved a breath of relief. He picked Elizabeth up in his arms and got to his feet, motioning with his head for Aiden and Michelle to follow him. Aiden and Michelle exchanged looks, unsure of what was about to transpire from this little excursion (things hardly ever went as planned when their father was in charge). Regardless, Aiden reluctantly turned off the TV, and Michelle mournfully put her book down before getting up themselves and trailing behind their father.

He was already at the front door, putting sneakers on Elizabeth. Pikachu, who had been napping somewhere upstairs, came running down as soon as he heard Ash pick up Elizabeth's shoes. He may have enjoyed his naps, but he would never turn down the chance to spend time outdoors.

"Do you want me to go get Lizzie's stroller?" Michelle asked.

Ash looked over his shoulder before shrugging. "Nah, we don't need it."

Michelle pursed her lips. "Uh…are you sure?"

"Yeah!" Ash replied cheerfully. "She doesn't really like sitting in it anyway. I'm sure she'll be happy to walk with all of us!"

Michelle was not convinced, but knew it wasn't worth it to keep trying to convince him. She had learned from her eight years of life that not only was her father a bit unorganized and unpredictable…he was also pretty stubborn.

Once everyone's shoes were on, Ash held his arm out towards his partner. "Pikachu, let's go!"

The mouse squeaked excitedly and ran up his trainer's arm, perching himself on the man's shoulder. With everyone finally ready to go, Ash opened up the front door and freed them to the outdoors, ready for what he believed would be a fun, low key little adventure together.

 **XXX**

"Daddy, I'm _tiwed_ …"

Ash glanced down at Elizabeth, who was starting to drag her feet.

"Lizzie, we're only halfway there," Ash reasoned with the girl. "I know you've got more energy than that!"

Apparently disagreeing, Elizabeth whined and sunk to the ground. Ash stopped, but Aiden and Michelle kept going, only halting when they realized their father and sister weren't following after them.

"Seriously?" Aiden groaned, shooting his younger sister an unimpressed look.

"Tiwed…" Elizabeth grumbled.

Michelle, on the other hand, was less impressed with her _father_ than Elizabeth. "I told you we were gonna need her stroller!"

Ash rubbed the back of his neck. "I thought she hated that thing!"

"She does, but she always wears out eventually," Michelle sighed, shaking her head. "I tried to warn you!"

Elizabeth frowned and threw herself down on her back, sprawling out on the ground. Pikachu's brow furrowed in concern as he watched the child, muttering a soft, "chu…"

Ash sighed and knelt down beside Elizabeth. "Kiddo, are you really not gonna walk anymore?"

Elizabeth shook her head, not moving from her spot. Knowing he wasn't going to convince her otherwise, Ash reached down and lifted the toddler into his arms, standing back up.

"Guess this is how we're gonna head to the bakery then," Ash muttered.

Michelle kept a smug look on her face, while Aiden shrugged and kept on going. Now that she was being carried, Elizabeth was in a much better mood, smiling and reaching over to pet Pikachu.

The second half of the walk felt much longer…for Ash at least. Elizabeth certainly wasn't heavy (she was only two years old, and smaller than most kids her age), but it still wasn't a walk in the park to carry a toddler for that long. His arms were starting to get stiff!

 _I'm actually kind of jealous of Aiden and Michelle…they don't have to lug a little girl around._

Ash's face suddenly lit up with realization. "Hey, guys! What if-"

"Daddy, if you suggest that Aiden and I take turns holding Lizzie, you're crazy," Michelle cut him off, throwing the man an exasperated look over her shoulder.

Ash frowned, while Aiden started to laugh wildly. "Wow, Michelle totally called that!"

Elizabeth started to giggle as well (she didn't understand what was being said…she just enjoyed copying Aiden) while Ash rolled his eyes. "Right. Let's just get to the bakery."

Fortunately for him and his aching arms, it didn't take much longer to reach downtown Cerulean. The twins had committed to memory where the bakery was, and were able to head in that direction without any prodding from their father. Which was a good thing…Ash's sense of direction still wasn't the best, even after living in Cerulean for the past eight years.

The family soon arrived at a quaint storefront with large glass windows and a pastel blue and white striped awning.

"We made it!" Aiden cheered. "I hope they have my favorite cookies."

"Which ones are your favorites?" Ash asked.

"The ones with the jelly on the inside," Aiden replied. Ash was about to respond, but Aiden cut him off and continued, "and chocolate chip, and the ones with the sprinkles on 'em, and the frosted ones, and-"

"Okay, so you like _all_ of the cookies," Ash chuckled.

"Well, yeah!" Aiden chirped.

Ash smirked and pushed the door open with his free hand, the sound of a ringing bell hitting his ears. "Alright, get inside you crazy kids."

Aiden and Michelle both started to giggle as they scurried into the doorway. Ash followed behind, looking around the familiar store. Behind the counter, he instantly recognized one of the women who worked there and grinned at her.

"Hey, Dulcie!" Ash greeted kindly.

"Good afternoon, Ash!" Dulcie returned. She was on the younger side, and like many of the younger people around the city, had been flustered the first time she'd met Ash. She'd hastily called him by his proper title, which in turn had flustered _Ash_ , and surprised Dulcie. It was then that she'd learned just how down-to-Earth he was, and by his request, had called him informally by his first name ever since.

"Hi, Dulcie!" Aiden added, beaming at the young woman.

"Hi, Aiden," Dulcie giggled, smiling at the boy. "What brings you here today?"

"We want to get cookies to bring home for our mom," Aiden replied. "She's really mad cause she's got a gym inspection today, so we want to do something nice for her!"

"Isn't that sweet?" Dulcie cooed.

"Ooh, look at these!" Michelle squealed from the other end of the display case. "These cookies look like different water type Pokémon! Mommy would _love_ these!"

"Let me see!" Aiden cried, running over to his sister.

"Me see!" Elizabeth chimed in.

Ash sighed, bending down to place Elizabeth on the floor. "I know, you have to do _everything_ the big kids do."

Elizabeth toddled over to her older siblings, squeezing between them to look into the display case. "Wuvies!"

"Aw, Elizabeth loves the cookies too?" Dulcie asked.

"Nah, that's how she says Luvdisc!" Aiden refuted, pointing at one of the cookies in the water type's likeness.

"I think she does love the cookies though, too," Michelle giggled. "Isn't that right, Lizzie?"

"Ya!"

"Daddy, could we get these for Mommy?" Michelle asked, pointing at the shaped cookies.

Ash chuckled and nodded his head. "Yeah, we can get some of those!"

"And the ones with the jelly in the middle, too?" Aiden prodded.

"Sure, those too!"

"Ooh, what about these cupcakes?!" Michelle squealed, turning towards the side display case. "They have glitter on them!"

Ash started to laugh nervously. "You guys are giving Mommy a run for my money."

Michelle looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Don't you mean _her_ money?"

"No, I mean mine," Ash confirmed.

"I can start boxing those cookies up for you," Dulcie offered. "How many of each would you like?"

"All of them!" Aiden cheered.

"Uh, no, nice try," Ash scoffed. "We'll start with five of each."

"What?! No!" Michelle cried. "That's not enough!"

"How is that not enough?" Ash groaned. "There are five of us!"

"You're not including the Pokémon," Michelle accused, pointing at Pikachu.

The electric mouse suddenly looked offended, causing Ash's face to turn red. "W-well, we can't feed _all_ of the Pokémon cookies, Shelly! There's way too many of them…I'll run out of money _and_ clean Dulcie out of all her merchandise."

"It's okay cause we're being nice to the Pokémon," Aiden calmly argued.

"Ya, nice!" Elizabeth chirped, finally prying herself away from the display case.

Ash huffed and shook his head. "No, we're not going to feed all of the Pokémon cookies. We'll get two extra cookies so we can share with Pikachu and Vaporeon, and another day we'll go to the gym and the lab and give all the other Pokémon different treats. How does that sound?"

All three kids appeared to be thinking over the proposition, causing Ash to groan once more and hang his head.

"Okay, that's fair," Michelle finally decided, nodding her head.

"Thank you," Ash sighed. "So then… _seven_ of each of those cookies."

"Seven it is!" Dulcie called back, turning to retrieve a box to put them in.

Once the cookies were all packaged up and paid for, Ash, Pikachu, and the kids bid Dulcie farewell and walked out the door.

"Mommy's gonna be so surprised!" Michelle giggled.

"I bet she's really gonna like them!" Aiden agreed.

"Hopefully it'll put her in a good mood," Ash murmured. "Those inspections are no joke."

"Daddy, if you're the Pokémon Master, how come you can't have those people go easier on Mommy?" Michelle asked.

Suddenly, Ash was flustered, much to the confusion of the children.

"Michelle's right," Aiden commented. "Couldn't you just tell them to pass her all the time?"

"I _could_ , but that wouldn't be right," Ash replied, scratching his cheek. "It's basically like cheating. None of the other gym leaders have an opportunity like that, so it wouldn't be fair of me to make exceptions just for Mommy. Besides, she wouldn't like that anyway. Getting special treatment because of me tends to make her really uncomfortable. I think you two are getting old enough to understand how that feels, right?"

Aiden and Michelle exchanged looks before nodding their heads.

"Yeah, I don't like it when people want to be friends with me just cause you're my dad," Aiden confirmed.

"Or when they think we can give them stuff just cause you're our dad," Michelle added.

Ash smiled, relieved the twins understood. "Right! It's the same thing with Mommy. Giving her a free pass on inspections _would_ probably make her life a lot easier, and she'd be way less stressed, but she and I both know it's wrong."

"I don't think Lizzie gets any of that yet," Michelle murmured.

"I don't think Lizzie _realizes_ any of it yet," Ash chuckled. "You guys didn't when you were her age. She will eventually, just like you two. But for now, I really like it that way! It's nice to be around someone who doesn't care that you're famous."

"Up!"

Ash blinked and looked down, realizing that Elizabeth was at his feet and reaching up towards him.

"Wait, Lizzie, we just took a nice long break in the bakery!" Ash cried. "Don't you have enough energy now to walk?"

Elizabeth pouted and shook her head. "Up!"

Michelle tried to stifle a laugh, but failed. Ash shot her a look, which worked only slightly in getting her to settle. Sighing, Ash held the box of cookies out towards her and relented, "well, if I'm gonna have to carry your sister all the way home, the _least_ you could do is carry this for me."

Michelle smirked and took the box. "Sure, I'll do it. Just cause I feel really bad you didn't listen to me!"

 **XXX**

One would've thought the migraine that was brewing inside of Misty's head would only flourish when she walked into her house full of shrieking kids, Pokémon, and Ash.

Instead, it all made the pain go away.

She peered into the living room, the smile on her face growing as she watched Aiden, Michelle, Elizabeth, and Ash huddle around a board game, chattering excitedly amongst themselves as they played.

As soon as Elizabeth picked her head up and saw her mother, however, all of the toddler's interest in the game went away. She jumped to her feet and trampled on top of the board to get to her, much to the ire of everyone else.

"Mommy!" Elizabeth squealed, holding her arms up towards Misty, who giggled and bent down to pick the child up.

"Hello baby," Misty cooed. "I'm so happy to see you!"

"What about us?!" Aiden cried, jumping to his feet.

"Of course I'm happy to see all of you!" Misty laughed. "I would've much rather spent my day having fun with you guys instead of being at the gym with a stingy inspector. What did you all do today?"

"Ooh, Daddy, can I tell her?" Michelle pleaded, batting her eyelashes at her father.

"Yeah, sure," Ash chuckled.

"We walked all the way downtown and bought cookies to share!" Michelle announced.

"You did?" Misty gasped.

"Yeah huh!" Michelle giggled. "We thought it'd make you feel better after the inspection!"

"Just being with you guys makes me feel a whole lot better," Misty sighed happily. "The cookies are definitely a bonus, though. Thank you!"

"Why don't you guys get the box and we can each have one?" Ash suggested, much to the children's delight.

"Ash, before dinner?" Misty groaned.

"It'll be fine!" Ash assured her.

Aiden and Michelle both started laughing and ran past their mother, into the kitchen. Elizabeth whined and tugged at her mother's shoulder; wanting to be put down. Misty smirked and placed the toddler on the floor, watching as she scurried after her older siblings. Once all of the kids were gone, Misty turned her focus onto Ash.

"Who's idea was it to go all the way downtown to get cookies?" She asked teasingly.

"Mine," Ash replied effortlessly.

"Any special reason?" She prodded, walking over and taking a seat next to him on the floor. Pikachu, who was ecstatic to see her, hopped into the woman's lap, earning a giggle from her as she scratched behind his ears.

"Yeah, to make you happy!" Ash cried.

"You knew I'd be happy just coming home," Misty snickered. "And you could've just gone to the supermarket down the street to get cookies."

"Yeah, but not cookies as good as the bakery makes," Ash scoffed.

Misty's smirk widened. "Ash."

He sighed, knowing Misty was seeing right through him. "The kids were all bored and Aiden and Michelle were about to go at it, so I needed to do something to distract them. I _did_ also think the cookies would cheer you up, though."

Misty giggled. "Well, that was very sweet of you guys. So thank you."

She leaned over and kissed Ash on the cheek, earning a slightly embarrassed squeak from Pikachu. As she pulled away, Misty laughed and started scratching the mouse's head again, teasing, "Hey, you should be used to that by now!"

Ash chuckled and placed his hand on Misty's knee.

"So Aiden and Michelle didn't try to kill one another?" She asked him, sounding highly impressed.

"Not while we were out," Ash grumbled. "Michelle just teased me a lot."

"Teased you?" Misty repeated, amusement in her voice. "For what?"

"She said we should've brought Lizzie's stroller with us and I said we didn't need it," Ash sighed.

"So…you didn't take it?" Misty prodded.

"Nope."

"And let me guess…Lizzie got tired of walking pretty quickly? And you had to carry her the whole way?"

"Yep."

Misty started to laugh heartily, much to Ash's dismay. "You know, when I said Michelle was like a small adult, I didn't really mean a small version of _you_."

"I know, but she is," Misty murmured. "And I'm not going to lie – I love it!"

"I know you do," Ash chuckled. "I can't say I _totally_ hate it. It's like I always have some of you with me, even if you're somewhere else!"

"Aiden, stop! You're gonna drop the cookies everywhere!"

"No I'm not! Quit being such a baby!"

"I'm _not_ being a baby! You're being careless!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

Misty sighed and hung her head. "Okay, this is the part I _don't_ love."

She handed Pikachu over to Ash, both of them watching as Misty got to her feet.

"Uh…you want me to break them up for you?" Ash asked timidly.

"No, I've got it," Misty grumbled. "Surprisingly enough, this is still easier than dealing with the Pokémon Inspection Agency…"


	64. An Unwelcome Guest

**I really love writing Misty's sisters, and I think Lily has one of the most interesting personalities because she seems to clash with Misty the most. So this one was super fun!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 5 years old**

* * *

 **An Unwelcome Guest**

"So, you're super-hot and super fertile. That's like…every woman's worst nightmare."

Ash sighed loudly and lowered his spoon. "Lily, who let you in my house?"

The pink haired woman was indeed standing just a few feet away from the table, examining a box of cereal that had been left on the counter. "Misty, duh. I have to say, though, I don't get how you're _that_ potent when you eat junk like this for breakfast."

"You do know it takes two people to make a baby, right?" Ash asked, his tone only growing more annoyed. "Misty's just as 'fertile' as I am. The doctor actually _congratulated_ us for it."

"Well of course he did," Lily scoffed, putting the cereal box down. "A couple of Buneary like you two are the ones who keep him in business."

Ash's agitation continued to increase. He never thought it was a good time for his sister-in-law's meddling and inappropriate questions, but first thing in the morning was _definitely_ the worst.

"Three kids isn't a lot," Ash grumbled, getting to his feet to carry his now empty bowl over to the sink. "You act like Misty and I do nothing but pop out babies."

"It'll only be three if it's not twins again," Lily smartly reminded her brother-in-law.

Ash's face paled. He was almost positive it _wouldn't_ be another pair of twins, but that thought had admittedly crossed his mind on more than one occasion, and it scared the hell out of him. Refusing to let Lily know that, he shook his head and calmly retorted, "It's kind of hard to complain about that sort of thing when the two of us make the cutest kids ever."

"Can't argue with that!" Lily chirped, shrugging her shoulders. "My niece and nephew _are_ super adorable."

Misty came striding into the kitchen, her sea green eyes shifting between Lily and Ash. Before she could even say anything, Ash raised his eyebrows and frantically nodded towards Lily. He looked spastic, but fortunately for him, Misty knew what he was trying to get across to her.

"Your super adorable niece and nephew are upstairs," Misty informed her older sister, gaining the pink haired woman's attention. "I just woke them up. Why don't you help them pick out their clothes for the day?"

Lily's face lit up. "Ooh, my favorite!"

She scurried past Misty, who smirked and playfully rolled her eyes.

"You've gotta tell me before you just let her in here," Ash grumbled, shaking his head as he turned back to finish washing out his bowl.

"I'm sorry," Misty apologized earnestly. "I didn't have time. I opened the door and she just strolled right in."

"You could've at least told me you called her to come over!" Ash whined.

"It was kind of a last minute thing," Misty admitted, now sounding more sheepish. "My mom was supposed to watch the twins today, but something came up. With Daisy and Violet both out of town, Lily was my only option."

That didn't seem to placate Ash. Picking the bowl up to towel it off, he complained, "She ruined my breakfast with all these gross comments about our sex life. I ought to do the same thing to her and see how she likes it!"

"I've thought about it, but she'd be more than happy to get into the grimy details," Misty replied, a shiver going up her spine as she wrapped her arms around herself. "And I'd rather not imagine my sister and Dorian doing…any of that."

Ash's face twisted in disgust. "Your sister is kind of a mess, huh?"

"You're not just figuring that out, are you?" Misty asked, her smirk returning. She watched intently as Ash finished toweling off the bowl and placing it back in the cupboard where it belonged. "You know, I find it really attractive when you do the dishes."

Ash turned towards his wife and raised an eyebrow. "Why's that?"

Misty shrugged her shoulders. "There's just something about it. Maybe because it makes you look so mature and responsible. I think that's cute."

Ash probably could've taken that as a backhanded compliment, implying that he wasn't mature _or_ responsible, but he didn't, especially since he knew that was kind of true sometimes.

"Just cute?" Ash teased, tilting his head. "Not super-hot?"

"That too," Misty relented, her smirk widening.

"Lily called me super-hot before," Ash added, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Gross," Misty grumbled, sticking her tongue out at the thought.

Ash seemed to contemplate it for a moment before musing, "Maybe she teases us because she's jealous."

Misty grimaced and gently shoved Ash's shoulder. "Ugh, stop, you're making it worse."

"They used to make fun of us all the time when we were kids," Ash recalled, leaning back against the counter. "Calling us runts and pretty blatantly implying I wasn't very attractive. Guess the tables really turned, huh?"

Misty arched an eyebrow. "So are you now insinuating my sisters think you're attractive?"

"Stranger things have happened," Ash replied with a shrug. "Girls seem to be really into me, so why not them? Maybe they dream about me and don't want you to know."

Misty rolled her eyes so hard she swore she saw the inside of her head. "This is honestly the worst conversation I've ever had with you. And that's saying something."

Ash chuckled and moved closer to Misty, craning his neck until their noses were touching. "You love me."

He'd said it in a teasing, sing song voice, causing Misty to laugh. "You're right; I do."

The two started to kiss, completely forgetting where they were or what they were doing before that as they became entangled in one another.

"Oooh, I see you're making more than breakfast in here!"

Ash and Misty quickly separated, both of their faces burning red as they whipped around to glare at the commenter. Lily was standing in the doorway, her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face. Aiden and Michelle were standing at her side, carefully glancing between their aunt and their parents.

"Really, Lily?" Misty deadpanned. "In front of the kids?"

"They don't know what I'm talking about," Lily refuted.

"Mommy was making cake?" Aiden asked, looking up at his aunt.

Lily was about to respond with a smartass comment, but Misty, who was wise to her sister's antics, was quick to cut her off. "No, baby. Mommy wasn't making cake."

"Oh." Aiden frowned, clearly disappointed by that answer.

"Maybe we can make a cake later," Misty suggested, causing her son's face to light up. "How's that sound?"

"Good!" Aiden giggled.

"You want to make a cake too, Shelly?" Misty asked kindly, turning her attention onto her daughter.

"Yeah!" Michelle cheered.

Lily's smirk widened as the twins hopped away from her and towards their parents instead, close enough that they could grab onto Misty's hands and playfully tug at her. "They distract pretty easily, huh? Just like their dad! Lucky for you, baby sister."

Misty didn't seem impressed, shooting her sister a deadpan look as she freed her hands and placed them on the twins' heads instead. "You don't have much room to talk, you know."

Either Lily didn't understand the snide comment, or she chose to ignore it, as she didn't respond and simply walked over to the table to pull out a chair and sit down. Ash was doing the same for Aiden and Michelle, and when he realized Lily had sat down as well, he looked less than impressed.

"You expect us to feed you, too?" Ash quipped.

Lily waved a dismissive hand at her brother-in-law. "No, I already had my breakfast."

"Which was…?" Misty prodded.

"Coffee," Lily chirped as she pulled out her cell phone.

"That's not breakfast," Misty reminded her sister.

"It is for me!"

Aiden, who had just hopped into his chair, furrowed his brow. "That stuff tastes like mud."

Ash tried (and failed) to choke back a laugh. "I don't disagree, but how would you know what coffee tastes like, little guy?"

"I asked Grammy to let me try it once –cause I wanted to know what it tasted like," Aiden explained. "And it tasted like mud."

Lily looked offended by the comparison, which Misty took notice of and smirked at, but said nothing out loud.

"Well, what do you two want for breakfast, since coffee is out?" Misty asked teasingly.

"Bacon!" Aiden cried.

"You need to eat something else with the bacon," Misty snickered.

"Oh. Umm…eggs!"

Misty giggled again. "Michelle, is that alright with you?"

"Uh huh!"

Lily appeared intrigued. "Ooh, look at these two getting along! That's cute."

"Hey, they're nowhere near at each other's throats as much as we were as kids," Misty scoffed, walking over to the fridge to retrieve the ingredients she needed for the twins' breakfast. "Compared to us, they're a dream come true."

Switching her blue eyed gaze between her nephew and niece, Lily inquired, "are you two going to pick fights with your little brother or sister?"

"Lily!" Misty cried, whipping around to glare at her sister.

"What?" Lily sighed out of exasperation. "Little siblings need to be kept in check! Trust me, I would know."

"I know that's supposed to be a knock on me, but it kind of loses its impact when you were getting bossed around by Daisy and Violet too," Misty scoffed.

Michelle's eyes widened. "Aunt Daisy and Aunt Violet picked on Aunt Lily?"

"Sometimes," Misty replied casually.

"Only when we weren't picking on your mommy!" Lily cried. "And that was _most_ of the time!"

"You don't need to remind me," Misty grumbled.

Michelle hummed nervously and shifted her eyes. "I don't really wanna pick on the baby. That doesn't seem very nice."

"You're right, Shelly, it isn't nice," Misty agreed. "And you know that because you're a very sweet little girl! Your Aunt Lily was not."

"Sounds like Aunt Daisy and Aunt Violet weren't either," Aiden murmured.

Now both Ash _and_ Misty couldn't hold back their laughter. They both began guffawing, Lily scowling at her unbothered young nephew. "You really are like your dad, aren't you?"

Aiden showed off a toothy grin, indicating that he was very much taking that as a compliment.

Once the twins were set up with their breakfast, Ash and Misty were able to begin getting ready to head out for their respective jobs. Michelle, who still had quite an attachment to her parents, was quick to notice this, and even quicker to become unhappy with it.

"Mommy…" Michelle whined, sliding off of her chair and scurrying over to Misty. Lily had still been busy with her phone, but she did look up when she heard Michelle's sad little plea. The pink haired woman turned her head, realizing her niece was hanging onto her mother's leg.

"What's wrong, Shelly?" Misty asked patiently, even though she already knew the answer.

"I don't want you to go," Michelle murmured.

"I know, you never do," Misty sighed, toying with her daughter's hair. "But I'll be back later! And in the meantime, you'll have so much fun with Aiden and Aunt Lily!"

Michelle groaned, hugging Misty's leg more tightly. "No, Mommy. Don't go."

Misty frowned and bent over to pick Michelle up. Still watching the pair, Lily asked, "Is she always this clingy?"

"Kind of," Misty breathed. "It's gotten worse since I've been pregnant. I think it's part jealousy, part protectiveness. Don't worry too much; she won't be like this the whole time. Everyone's told me she'll pout for a little bit, but after an hour or so she cheers up."

That wasn't good enough for Lily. Putting her phone down on the table, Lily got to her feet and walked over to her bag, pulling a poke ball out of it. Misty furrowed her brow, confused by the sphere's very presence and unsure of what exactly her sister was doing with it.

"Hey, Michelle," Lily beckoned, earning her niece's attention. Once Michelle had looked up at her, Lily held the poke ball up so the young girl could see it clearly. "Want to play with my Pokémon?"

The young girl's eyes lit up, and she quickly nodded her head.

"Cool!" Lily chirped, just flicking her wrist so the sphere popped open. A Seel was released from it, joyfully clapping his fins together once it was out.

As soon as she saw the Pokémon, Michelle gasped and held her hands out towards him. "So cute!"

Misty smiled and placed her daughter on the floor, next to the water type. Seel immediately took the same interest in Michelle as she had in him, and was more than happy to have the child pet his head.

With Michelle now distracted and happy, Misty turned towards her sister with an obvious look of surprise. "That was impressive."

Lily smirked and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Thanks, I know!"

"Did you think of that ahead of time?" Misty asked, ignoring Lily's self-congratulatory response.

"No," Lily admitted after a beat of silence…the result of her determining whether she should fib or not. "I've always got a Pokémon on me, just in case."

"That's also impressive," Misty murmured.

"I just know Aiden and Michelle both really like Pokémon," Lily continued, now taking her turn to ignore Misty's snide comment. "I figured if I took Seel out and let her play with him, Michelle might not be as upset about you leaving for the gym."

"Well…I appreciate it," Misty sighed, brushing some of her hair behind her ear. "Thank you."

"No problem!" Lily chirped.

Ash came trampling down the stairs, but stopped in his tracks when he saw Michelle playing with Seel. He started moving again, more slowly this time, and approached Lily and Misty.

"Where'd that Seel come from?" Ash asked, pointing at the sea lion Pokémon.

"Lily brought him," Misty replied. "Apparently, she's always got a Pokémon on her, and when she saw Michelle start to get upset about me leaving, she thought taking him out might cheer her up. It worked!"

"Wow, that's almost unbelievable," Ash remarked.

"What, me helping out instead of just being a pain in your ass?" Lily scoffed.

"I meant you keeping a Pokémon on you," Ash chuckled. "But yeah, that also works."


	65. Mother's Day Surprise

**I'm super excited I was able to finish this one in time for Mother's Day! I was away on vacation this past week and didn't think I'd get it done. This one is pretty much all fluff, but I had a really fun time writing it!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 2 years old**

* * *

 **Mother's Day Surprise**

"Mama! Mama! Mama!"

Misty looked up from the Pokémon she was feeding and smirked when she saw her young son toddling towards her.

"What are you so excited about, sweetheart?" Misty asked kindly, holding her arms out for the boy. He went running straight into them, colliding with Misty's chest and nearly knocking her to the ground. "Oof! I don't know how I always forget how strong you are…"

Aiden started to laugh, amused by his mother's surprise.

Misty's smile widened, herself amused by her son's own delight. "Did you want to show me something?"

Aiden silently nodded his head, reaching out to play with the strings on his mother's shirt.

"Where is it?" Misty continued.

"Pay woom," Aiden babbled.

Misty giggled and lifted the boy up in her arms. "Alright, let's go see! You guys are all set with your lunch?"

Her Pokémon turned away from their food and affirmed in their varying languages that yes, they were very satisfied. Psyduck, however, was the only one who appeared confused by the question, as he tilted his head and started to walk away from the bowl that had been left out. This, of course, was hilarious to Aiden, who started laughing wildly all over again. Misty just sighed and turned her attention onto Vaporeon, asking, "Would you mind keeping an eye on Psyduck for me?"

"Vay," Vaporeon purred, switching her tail side-to-side.

"Thank you," Misty breathed. "Make sure he doesn't fall in the pool!"

Vaporeon nodded, and with that, Misty felt comfortable leaving the battle area and heading towards the twins' play room. To get there, she had to walk through the lobby, and missed the little smile shared between Aiden and Violet, who was manning the gym's front desk.

As soon as Misty reached the doorway of the play room, her eyes widened and she stood completely motionless.

The entire play room had been decorated with colorful streamers and paper flowers. There were balloons scattered around, some tied down to furniture and toys, and others floating up against the ceiling. In the middle of the room stood Michelle, clutching the leg of her father, who was holding a gift in his hands and beaming at Misty.

"A-Ash?" Misty stammered. "What are you doing here? I thought you were at work!"

"I'm glad you believed it!" Ash chuckled. "I had some errands to run that I didn't want you to know about."

"I can see that," Misty quipped, looking around the room. "What's all this for?"

"Mother's Day!" Ash replied simply. "We wanted to give you a fun little surprise. Right, guys?"

Michelle remained silent but smiled at her mother and nodded her head. Aiden, on the other hand, was far more talkative, and turned towards Misty, shrieking "Ya! We did it, Mama! We want to!"

"Oh my goodness!" Misty giggled, a blush gracing her face. "This is just the sweetest thing! I'm so lucky!"

"Mama wike?" Michelle finally piped up, earning a proud look from her father.

"Yes, I _love_ it!" Misty stressed, scurrying over to the girl and picking her up in her left arm. She gave both twins kisses, causing them to laugh. "I love you both so much! You two are Mommy's most special gifts ever."

She placed the children on the floor and watched as they scurried off to their toys, playfully rolling her eyes. "They lost interest in _that_ very quickly."

"If it's any consolation, they've been threatening to blab about this to you all day," Ash chuckled. "They were super excited to get the decorations and your gift! All they talked about was getting to show Mama everything."

That brought Misty's attention back to the box in Ash's hands. "Ooh, so can I have my present now?"

"Not yet," Ash teasingly scolded her. "Geez, Mist, you're worse than the two year olds!"

Misty's jaw fell open and she playfully swatted at Ash's arm. "Seriously?! _You_ can say that to me?!"

"And when did I say I wasn't?" Ash chirped. "Right now we're only talking about you!"

At this, Misty pouted. "I just want my present."

Ash grinned cheekily at his wife. "Well, I want to give you something else first."

Intrigued, Misty raised an eyebrow. "Yeah? And what's that?"

Ash leaned in to Misty and started to kiss her. Although she was taken off guard at first, she quickly melted into it and reciprocated. Once he started to get a bit too handsy, however, Misty whined and gently pulled away, smirking at the man. "I appreciate it, but maybe not in front of the twins."

"They don't know what this is," Ash chuckled. "If anything, they'll just think I'm eating your face!"

"Oh, yeah, because that's _much_ better," Misty deadpanned.

"I can't help it that I can't keep my hands off of you," Ash purred. "Maybe I just want to give them a younger sibling!"

His attempt to flirt just led to Misty dramatically rolling her eyes. "It's incredible how you totally grasp romance with me but are still oblivious to it when it comes to anyone else."

Ash's smile became more crooked, and he let out a sheepish laugh. "Yeah, I don't really get it."

"It's fine, I don't actually mind it," Misty admitted, smirking at him.

Chuckling again, Ash looked over his shoulder to the twins, who were busy playing with some of their toys. "Aiden, Michelle, should we let Mommy have her present now?"

"Ya!" They both cheered, glancing up from the toys with a big smile on their faces.

"I do it!" Aiden quickly added, jumping to his feet and running up to his father, reaching for the present.

Ash laughed and, despite Aiden's inability to actually reach the gift, raised it up higher to emphasize that wasn't going to happen. "You and your sister have to give Mommy the present _together_ , okay?"

"Michy don't wanna," Aiden mumbled.

"I do!" Michelle shrieked, her face quickly contorting into one of distress as she flailed her legs. "I wanna do it!"

"Shh, it's okay, Shelly, don't get upset," Misty hushed the child. "You can both do it!"

Michelle sniffled once more before getting to her feet and scurrying over next to Aiden. Despite the moment of tension, Ash snorted and turned towards Misty, his eyes twinkling with mischievousness as he gently shook the box in his hand. "Yeah, I'd definitely say you earned this."

He knelt down and handed the gift to the twins, making sure they were both holding onto it. Once they had their grasp on it, they moved closer to Misty and held the box up towards her.

"What do you two say?" Ash prodded.

"-appy Mofer's Day!" Aiden shouted.

"-appy Mommy Day!" Michelle tried, letting out a small giggle afterwards.

"Oh, thank you!" Misty breathed, kneeling down and taking the gift from her toddlers. She unwrapped the box and then removed the top, her eyes sparkling when she saw what was inside. "Look at this!"

She pulled out a silver picture frame engraved with hearts and housing a photo of Aiden and Michelle she had never seen before: the two of them were standing in a field of flowers, hugging one another as they looked into the camera with big smiles on their faces.

"This is so cute!" Misty squealed. "Where did you get this picture from?"

"I asked Todd if he could come over and take some pictures for me," Ash replied. "He saw that field on the way to our house and knew he wanted to take the twins there to take the pictures. They came out really nice! I have a bunch more, but that one was our favorite. Right, guys?"

Aiden and Michelle both nodded their heads.

"Aw, I love it!" Misty fussed, hugging the frame to her chest before gently putting it down by her side on the floor and instead holding her arms out. "Can I have a hug?"

Aiden and Michelle bolted into her embrace, causing Misty to giggle and press a kiss on the top of each of their heads. In the midst of that, Misty felt another pair of arms wrap around her back, causing her to look up and snicker once she realized it was Ash.

"I could've given you your own hug, you know," she teased.

"Yeah, but I like this one better," Ash sighed, resting his head against Misty's.

Misty's smile widened, and after a beat of silence, she agreed, "I do too."

A loud splash followed by frantic cries led the family to break apart, looking around with confusion on their faces.

"Was dat?" Aiden asked.

"I'm not sure, buddy," Ash replied, appearing equally bewildered.

Misty, on the other hand, sighed and hunched her shoulders. "Unfortunately, I think I do…"

Violet came running into the playroom, grabbing onto the doorframe to stop herself from skidding. "Misty, don't panic, but Psyduck fell in the pool."

"Knew it," Misty groaned, standing back up.

"It's okay, though!" Violet cried. "Vaporeon pulled him out!"

"Good, just like I asked her to do!" Misty giggled. "Either way, I should probably still check on them."

Ash thought about it for a moment before grinning at Misty. "You know, Psyduck is almost like another kid for you to take care of!"

Misty growled lowly, her face turning red as Aiden and Michelle both giggled. "Don't you ever make that comparison again, Ash Ketchum."


	66. Ash's Birthday Bash

**Happy Birthday to Ash! Of course I had to write a special birthday chapter for the occasion! I've said this before, but Ash is one of my favorite characters of all time (not just in Pokémon) and the fact that his birthday is 2 days after mine makes me so happy! It also seriously puts me in a birthday theme writing mood ;)**

* * *

 **Ash's Birthday Bash**

Elizabeth suddenly looked up from her drawing, staring directly at her mother. Misty, however, hadn't noticed; she was busy on her laptop. So, instead of calling for her mother's attention, Elizabeth decided to simply pose the question that had just struck her.

"Was Daddy a cute baby?"

Misty looked up from her screen, raising her eyebrows. "Huh?"

Elizabeth leaned forward on the coffee table and repeated, "Was Daddy a cute baby?"

"Oh, I don't know," Misty replied. "I didn't know him when he was a baby!"

Elizabeth furrowed her brow. "That's not funny, Mommy."

"I'm not trying to be funny," Misty defended herself, although the little giggle that escaped said otherwise.

"Grammy probably showed you pictures of baby Daddy," Elizabeth continued. "Right?"

"She has," Misty confirmed, nodding her head.

"So was he cute?"

Misty started to laugh again. "Yes, he was cute. He looked just like Aiden when _he_ was a baby! They had the same chubby cheeks."

Elizabeth contemplated this for a moment before remarking, "Good to know."

Misty snickered, watching as Elizabeth reached for a tan crayon. "Why are you asking?"

"I'm drawing Daddy a picture for his birthday," Elizabeth elucidated, dragging her newly selected crayon across the white piece of paper she was holding down with her other hand. "And I'm making it of Daddy as a baby."

"How come?" Misty asked, genuinely curious as to the reasoning behind that.

"Because he was a baby once," Elizabeth murmured, leaning back to admire her work. "But now he's a grown up. And I think maybe sometimes he might want to remember when he was a baby. Because that's more fun!"

Misty thought of how to respond, but eventually settled for a shrug of the shoulders and a calm, "can't argue with that."

"Was _Pikachu_ a cute baby?"

Another attempt to look at her laptop screen thwarted, Misty glanced back up at her daughter, who was once again staring at her. "Well, I _definitely_ didn't know Pikachu as a baby. But most baby Pokémon are cute!"

"Was he a Pichu?"

"I would assume so, yes."

"Did Daddy ever know Pikachu as a baby?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because he didn't get Pikachu from Professor Oak until he turned 10," Misty answered. "Pikachu wasn't a baby by then."

Elizabeth let out a sigh as she frowned. "I want to draw Pikachu too, but I'm scared if I make him a Pichu, Daddy won't recognize him! But they should both be babies, because they're friends."

Misty hummed softly; Elizabeth's logic was beginning to become unhinged. Then again, she knew better than to argue with her four year old over semantics, _especially_ when it came to her creative endeavors. "You can make him a Pichu. I'm sure Daddy will understand. And if not, you could just explain it to him!"

Elizabeth's eyes lit up. "That's such a good idea!"

"I try," Misty giggled, watching as Elizabeth switched out her tan crayon for a yellow one. With Elizabeth placated again, Misty returned to the task at hand, silently hoping for at least a few minutes of peace and quiet so she could concentrate.

Ash's birthday was indeed quickly approaching, and Misty was trying to come up with a fun way to celebrate. She knew Ash would be happy with anything, but she was wired very differently; she wanted to do something a bit different, but still perfect for her husband. He wasn't necessarily your "typical" adult; he didn't like to drink or hang out in places like bars or clubs. Not like those would work anyway, since Ash wouldn't want to leave the kids out. She vaguely remembered that a few years ago, Aiden had suggested renting Ash a bouncy castle for his birthday, and she'd shot the idea down. Now she was starting to think maybe it wasn't too crazy.

Just as she was about to type that into the search bar, the front door opened, tearing her attention away from the screen again. Elizabeth instantly panicked and threw her drawing underneath the coffee table, holding her breath as she stared at the doorway.

"Hey guys," Ash greeted casually, though he was sporting his usual grin. It faltered a bit, however, when he saw the look on Elizabeth's face. "Uh…are you okay, pumpkin?"

Realizing she was still holding her breath, Elizabeth gasped and allowed herself to breathe again, hunching her shoulders as she did so. Once she'd managed to refill her lungs, the girl sat up straight, smiling at her father. "Uh huh!"

Ash glanced towards Misty for validation; she, in turn, just smirked and shook her head.

"I don't know why you give me that look," Misty commented. "She's your daughter too."

"Who says she gets that from me?" Ash challenged, furrowing his brow.

"Me," Misty easily replied before turning back to her laptop.

Ash rolled his eyes before walking by Elizabeth and ruffling her hair. Pikachu, who had been riding on his trainer's shoulder, quickly jumped down to give the child a swift sniff search before grinning and giving her a lick on the hand, causing her to giggle.

"You're so silly, Pikachu!" Elizabeth squealed.

"Pi-ka!"

Ash, meanwhile, sat down beside Misty on the couch, trying to take a look at her screen. Misty, however, was quick to move it away, much to Ash's chagrin.

"Hey, I was-"

"Being nosy, I know," Misty interrupted.

"How can I do that when I don't even know what you're looking at?" Ash whined.

"You don't know because it's none of your business," Misty teased, placing the laptop beside her on the couch and reaching out to playfully flick her husband's nose. Ash flinched at the motion, while Elizabeth started to giggle once again, this time at her parents' bantering.

Ash looked over his shoulder at Elizabeth and frowned before turning his head to give Misty the same face. "It's almost my birthday!"

"So?" Misty asked with a short laugh.

"I should be allowed to look at whatever I want," Ash declared, shrugging his shoulders.

"You want that to be your birthday gift?" Misty scoffed.

Ash thought about it for a second before quickly replying, "No."

"Didn't think so," Misty drawled, smirking at him.

Pikachu, who was still sitting beside Elizabeth, soon caught a whiff of a different scent. Looking up at the coffee table, Pikachu saw several crayons strewn about, and nodded to himself. What he'd smelt was waxy, so the crayons certainly made sense. Lowering his eyes, the electric mouse noticed there was a piece of paper sitting on the floor beneath the table.

"Chu?" Pikachu squeaked.

He crawled under the table, which quickly caught the attention of Elizabeth. Her eyes widened and she soon dove under as well, reaching out for the Pokémon.

"No, Pikachu!" Elizabeth hissed.

"Pikapikachu!" The Pokémon cried, pointing at the paper.

"Yeah, I _know_ it's there!" Elizabeth replied in a hushed voice. "I'm hiding it from Daddy!"

"Pi?"

"Cause it's a present!"

Pikachu peered up at his trainer from underneath the table, realization striking him. Elizabeth was still just a little girl; she didn't really have any money to spend on a gift, so drawing a picture made a lot of sense.

"Pi-ka," Pikachu murmured to Elizabeth.

"It's okay!" Elizabeth assured him. "You didn't know!"

"Lizzie, Pikachu, what are you two doing under there?"

Elizabeth jumped up and hit her head on the table, instantly recoiling and holding onto it as she groaned.

"Ash!" Misty gasped, quickly moving the table out of the way and scooping Elizabeth up in her arms.

"I didn't mean to scare her!" Ash cried, sounding quite guilty.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Misty cooed.

Despite the frown on her face, Elizabeth nodded her head. She lowered her hands and checked them for blood, but once she didn't see anything, put them at her sides.

"You're such a big girl!" Ash gasped, smiling encouragingly at his daughter. "Most kids your age would cry if they hit their head like that! Heck, _I_ might cry if I hit my head like that!"

At that, Elizabeth laughed softly. "No, my head is hard, Daddy. Mommy says that all the time!"

"I think I still want to put an ice pack on it, just in case," Misty sighed, choosing to ignore the unintentional misdirection of her occasional comment about her daughter being "hard headed." Getting to her feet, Misty held Elizabeth securely against her hip and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. "Come on, baby."

As Misty and Elizabeth disappeared into the kitchen, Ash sighed and glanced down at Pikachu. With the coffee table gone, however, he also caught sight of the piece of paper beside the mouse and raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, what's that?" Ash asked, pointing at it.

Pikachu looked in that direction and let out a cry, picking it up with his teeth and running off into the kitchen, leaving behind a stunned Ash.

"Guess I shouldn't have asked…" Ash murmured to himself.

 **XXX**

"You can be so clumsy sometimes, little girl."

Elizabeth winced as her mother gently pressed the aforementioned ice pack against the sore spot on her head. "Daddy just said I'm a big girl."

"And he's right," Misty agreed, nodding her head. "My apologies!"

"It's okay," Elizabeth murmured, earning an amused giggle from her mother.

While Misty was tending to her daughter, Pikachu came scurrying towards her. The sound of his paws scratching against the floor caught Misty's attention, causing her to turn her head without shifting the ice pack she was holding. "Aw, Pikachu, did you come to check on Lizzie?"

Pikachu nodded his head, causing the paper in his mouth to wave up and down as well. Misty hummed and asked a follow up question: "what is that?"

"My drawing!" Elizabeth gasped. "I bet Daddy tried to look at it. But you didn't let him, huh Pikachu?"

The mouse shook his head. Smirking, Misty reached out with her free hand and took the drawing from his mouth. "Thank you, Pikachu. You are just the sweetest!"

Elizabeth took another look at Pikachu before gasping and turning her head sharply towards her mother, causing the ice pack to slip out of her hand.

"Oh, Lizzie!" Misty groaned, bending down to fetch it.

"Sorry, but I just got the best idea ever!" Elizabeth squealed.

"Pi-ka?" Pikachu muttered.

"What kind of idea?" Misty sighed, once again placing the ice pack against her daughter's head.

"For Daddy's birthday party!" Elizabeth replied. "What if we had it at the Pokémon Center?"

Misty looked unsure. "I don't know about that, Michelle. A Pokémon Center is like a doctor's office."

"Yeah, but it's also where trainers can hang out and train and stuff…and eat!" Elizabeth countered. "Aiden and Michelle taught me that!"

"Well, you're not wrong…" Misty breathed. "But what made you think of the Pokémon Center, sweetie?"

"Bumping my head on the table and Pikachu," Elizabeth answered easily.

"That's…huh?" Misty stammered, obviously not getting it.

"I hit my head, so you took care of me, and so did Pikachu!" Elizabeth explained. "That's like what they do at a Pokémon Center. And Daddy loves Pokémon! But he also loves people too. He's very friendly. He's like a Pokémon Center!"

Misty couldn't help but to giggle. "I've heard your daddy compared to a lot of things over time, but never a Pokémon Center! That's pretty creative, Lizzie."

"Yeah, and it's smart too!" Elizabeth laughed.

"But I still don't know if it would be appropriate to have a birthday party there," Misty continued.

"No, Mommy, you have it outside!" Elizabeth cried, leaning forward in her chair. "Cause then you don't bother anybody and you can be as loud as you want and play games and music and stuff like that. Oh! Can we get a piñata too?!"

"Lizzie, this isn't _your_ birthday party," Misty reminded her daughter with a smirk.

"I know, but Daddy likes that stuff too," Elizabeth whined.

Misty sighed and tilted her head. "I'll consider it. Is that fair?"

Elizabeth excitedly nodded her head. "And the Pokémon Center?"

After deliberating it for a moment, Misty replied, "I can talk to Nurse Joy about it. I want to make sure she'd be okay with that."

"That's fair too," Elizabeth decided, getting another laugh out of her mother.

"I'm glad you think so," Misty chuckled. "How's your head feeling?"

"Better!" Elizabeth chirped.

"I'm glad," Misty said, taking the ice pack off of her daughter's head. "Do you want to go back to Daddy so he can see you're still alive?"

Elizabeth started to giggle wildly. "Yeah!"

She flew off her chair and ran back into the living room before Misty could even process it. Sighing, the gym leader glanced down at an equally stunned Pikachu and quipped, "She's got way too much of Ash in her, right?"

"Pi," Pikachu agreed.

 **XXX**

Perhaps she shouldn't have been, but Misty was admittedly a bit surprised when Nurse Joy not only approved the idea of the Pokémon Center hosting Ash's birthday party, but _fervently_ did so.

"Are you sure?" Misty asked, lowering her voice to a whisper as she leaned over the counter. She had chosen to head over to the center and ask in person, since she found that more personable. She had also chosen to leave Elizabeth at home with Ash, to avoid the little girl trying to guilt trip Nurse Joy with her cuteness.

Apparently, that wouldn't have been an issue.

"Oh no, I insist!" Nurse Joy fussed. "It would be an honor to have his party here! Besides, Ash is so kind. He's helped me out so many times, even when he didn't have to! And he's always so cheerful; we always have a very nice conversation every time he stops by to get his Pokémon checked out or he's running errands. It's the least I could do to show my appreciation."

Misty smiled at the wave of compliments. "He's always been good at making friends and influencing people…"

"The battle field out back will be perfect for the party," Nurse Joy continued. "His birthday falls at a nice time of the year; it should be sunny and warm outside, but there are plenty of trees back there to provide natural shade in case it's a bit _too_ sunny and warm! And we can set up tables and chairs, and decorate as well!"

"You don't have to do any of that," Misty assured the nurse. "I can take care of all that silly stuff. And I know I'll have Elizabeth and Delia's help too…they'd both never let me hear the end of it if I didn't include them!"

"Well, I would love to lend a hand as well," Nurse Joy replied, grinning at Misty. "The more help you have, the faster it will go!"

"Can't argue with that," Misty breathed. "Thank you so much, Nurse Joy. You have no idea how much this means to me."

"Of course; anything for you and Ash!" Nurse Joy chirped.

 **XXX**

"Wow, this looks _so cool!_ "

Misty giggled and glanced down at her daughter. "As cool as you thought it would be?"

Elizabeth grinned and confidently nodded her head. The day of the party had finally rolled around, and she, Misty, Delia, and Nurse Joy were just finishing up decorating the Pokémon Center's battlefield for the big event.

Red and blue streamers were woven through the battlefield's surrounding trees, with matching paper lanterns hung from the branches. A handful of round tables and chairs were scattered across the dirt field, adorned with red and blue tablecloths and colorful paper centerpieces that featured Ash's many Pokémon. Balloons in the same colors as the streamers and lanterns were tied to the chairs and to weights along the perimeter of the battlefield. A long table that would offer up the food Delia and Brock had prepared together sat against the outer wall of the building, with the colorful piñata that Elizabeth had requested on display at the end, waiting to be hung up and broken open.

"It's so nice out here!" Delia sighed. "So peaceful and quiet."

"Yeah, good thing we'll be ruining that in a matter of minutes," Misty quipped, smirking at her mother-in-law.

"That's just joyful noise!" Delia playfully countered. "Isn't that right, Lizzie?"

"Uh huh!" Elizabeth agreed.

"I think it looks wonderful out here," Nurse Joy marveled, smiling at the rest of the group. "I'm sure the party will be a hit!"

"I agree!" Delia giggled. "Brock should be here soon with Ash, yes?"

"I think so…" Misty hummed nervously. "I'm a bit worried. They're already running late. I hope they didn't run into Team Rocket! Or worse, Brock ran into an attractive woman…"

"Hey guys!"

Misty let out a sigh of relief and spun around. "Perfect!"

The two men had just rounded the building and were now standing beside the battlefield. Brock, the one who had greeted them, had a big smile on his face, but Ash, on the other hand, was unusually quiet as he glanced around the field, Pikachu draped over his head.

"I think he's speechless," Delia noted with a smirk. "That's unlike him!"

"Daddy!"

As soon as Elizabeth's squeaky voice called out to him, Ash broke out into a huge grin and watched as the little girl ran over to him.

"Hi, baby!" Ash chuckled, kneeling down to catch the child as Pikachu jumped off his head and scurried towards a nearby tree for the shade. "Did you help do all of this?"

"Yeah!" Elizabeth confirmed. "Do you like it?"

"I love it!" Ash replied, his voice bubbling with excitement. "It's got all my favorite colors, and a bunch of Pokémon! It's really cool."

"That's what I said before!" Elizabeth laughed.

"It is?" Ash gasped. "Wow, you and I really are exactly the same!"

Elizabeth laughed again at the comparison. She loved her father, and very much believed they were almost exactly the same person…except for the parts of her that were very much like her mother.

As Ash chatted with his daughter, he saw another pair of feet approach them. Smiling to himself, Ash gently patted Elizabeth's head as he stood back up, crossing his arms. "You really did all this for me?"

Misty giggled softly at the question. "Of course! You know that I love to celebrate your birthday. It always reminds me how lucky I am to have you in my life…I don't know what I'd do without you."

Ash's smile actually managed to widen as he threw his arms around his slightly startled wife. "Mist, you're the best! And the sweetest. _I'm_ the one who's lucky to have you! Thank you."

She managed to wriggle free just enough to give him her own sheepish smile before pressing her lips against his. Without hesitation, Ash began to kiss her back, gently cupping her face. Elizabeth, who had managed to catch the beginning of that exchange, stuck her tongue out in disgust and scurried over to Brock, attaching herself to his legs.

"What's up, kiddo?" Brock chuckled, lifting the girl into his arms.

"Mommy and Daddy are-" Elizabeth complained before making exaggerated kissing sounds.

Brock laughed and ruffled the girl's hair, replying, "It's just because they love each other! That's a good thing!"

"I guess, but I don't wanna see it!" Elizabeth cried, waving her arms up and down.

Brock couldn't help but to let his smile widen. "You're very cute, you know that?"

"Yes," Elizabeth replied quite seriously. She was suddenly lifted out of Brock's arms, causing her to yelp and whip her head around. As soon as she saw it was just her father, however, she relaxed and threw her arms around his neck instead.

"I'm super excited to get this party started!" Ash crowed, pumping a fist. "Aren't you, Lizzie?"

"Uh huh," Elizabeth squeaked. "Are you and Mommy done now?"

Ash turned a bit red, particularly as Brock began to laugh, but assured his daughter, "yeah, we're done now."

"Okay," Elizabeth murmured. "Good!"

Ash sighed and lifted Elizabeth up once more, this time to sit her on his shoulders. "You want to try and sneak some food before everyone else gets here?"

"Yes!" Elizabeth cheered.

Chuckling, Ash turned his head towards Brock and gave him a playfully stern look. "Don't tell anyone!"

"Me? Never!" Brock drawled sarcastically. "But I'm not going to stop your wife or mother from looking in that direction either."

Rolling his eyes up, Ash directed, "we have to move fast, Lizzie."

"Go, Daddy!" Elizabeth cheered, throwing her hand out in front of her.

As the two scurried off, Brock approached Misty, who was still a bit pink in the face from her intimate exchange with Ash. "You've really outdone yourself this time."

"I can't really take much of the credit," Misty admitted. "Most of this was actually Elizabeth's idea. Kid is a scary good event planner, considering she's four years old."

"Four and-a-half," Brock corrected, practically absentmindedly.

"Yeah, I know, my bad," Misty quipped, playfully rolling her eyes. "She gets _very_ offended if you leave that little detail out."

Brock smirked at Misty. "I presume Ash does the same?"

"Please, don't give him any ideas," Misty groaned, rubbing her temples. "He will do _anything_ to get a laugh out of our kids, and that would do it."

"That's always nice though, isn't it?" Brock asked, earning a more thoughtful look from Misty. "No matter how old Ash gets, he stays his same, playful self. And that's a great way to be."

Misty looked over at Ash and smiled. At that very moment, she didn't care that her husband had taken their daughter to pilfer the carefully prepared buffet. She was just happy that he was him, and that she had him in her life.

"You know, Brock, those are surprisingly wise words," Misty sighed, gently tilting her head.

"Thank you!" Brock crowed before pulling his shoulders down and raising an eyebrow. "Wait a second…'surprisingly'?"


	67. Indi-No-Go

**One of my goals for this year was to rewatch the anime in order. It's been lots of fun! And even though I've rewatched the original series more times than I count by now, I really got inspired by watching the league arc this time around, and came up with this little story as a result.**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 8 years old**

* * *

 **Indi-No-Go**

"Aw, man, _seriously?_ "

Aiden raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder. "What?"

"You're really still sitting here watching all these old battles?" Michelle groaned, pointing at the TV.

"Yeah, they're awesome!" Aiden cried. "It's really cool, because every once in a while, you'll see a really famous trainer from when they were young. They had one on before of Lance competing in the Indigo Conference for the first time!"

"Did he win?" Michelle asked, unable to fend off her own curiosity.

"Nah," Aiden refuted, shaking his head. "They don't ever seem to win the first time around, but I guess that makes sense! It takes a long time to be the best. Still, you could see how great Lance was, even then! His strategy was awesome."

Michelle hummed softly. "So…when _you_ compete in your first Pokémon League, you don't expect to win?"

"Of course I do," Aiden scoffed, furrowing his brow. "Just because none of _them_ won doesn't mean I won't!"

Michelle smirked and rolled her eyes. "You've got too big of an ego for your own good. Must be why your head is so massive!"

Aiden scowled at his sister and was prepared to bite back at her, but his attention was quickly recaptured by the program announcer.

" _What an impressive throwback to that memorable Lily of the Valley Conference! Next on Classic Conferences, we take a look at the Indigo Conference from 19 years ago. It's hard to believe this took place almost two decades ago, especially when you see some very recognizable faces competing!"_

That struck Michelle. The Indigo Conference from 19 years ago? She rolled her eyes up in thought as she tried counting in her head, wanting to confirm if her suspicions were correct.

"Whoa, that's Dad!"

Michelle snapped her head towards the television. Her brother wasn't kidding, and it was just as she had thought. There, on the screen, was a much younger version of their father.

"Wow," Michelle breathed, still staring at the screen as she sat down beside Aiden. "You look so much like him! I mean, I always knew that, but looking at him there, it could totally pass as you!"

"I guess I could see it," Aiden chuckled a bit bashfully. "So…if this was 19 years ago, that means Dad was…um…"

He tried counting back on his fingers. Michelle sighed and shook her head, knowing his less-than-stellar math skills weren't going to get him anywhere fast. "10. He'd be 10."

"That means this was his first League ever!" Aiden marveled.

Michelle nodded her head, but then stopped as another thought hit her. "Did Dad ever tell us about his first League tournament?"

"Not really," Aiden replied. "I asked once or twice, but all he did was laugh and start saying some random stuff about working hard and trying your best or something like that."

"That's weird…" Michelle murmured. She blinked when their father's challenger appeared, and pulled her shoulders back. "Wait a second…that's Ritchie!"

"Ritchie?" Aiden repeated. The name sounded familiar, but he was having trouble placing it.

"Yeah, remember?" Michelle asked. "He's friends with Mom and Dad. Sometimes he comes and visits us with Todd."

"Oh, right!" Aiden gasped. "It's been a while since we've seen him. Wow, I can't believe how many of these trainers we know!"

"Mom said that Dad's always been good at making friends," Michelle giggled.

The two quickly became enraptured by the battle. The first three rounds went by in what seemed like a flash; a series of fast paced battles where two of Ash's Pokémon and one of Ritchie's went down without much fanfare. By the time the match reached the fourth round, the younger Ash looked seriously concerned before reluctantly pulling out his next poke ball.

" _Charizard, I choose you!"_

That declaration came just as Ash was descending the stairs with Pikachu at his feet. Both of their ears twitched, for identical reasons. To Ash, that had sounded like Aiden, but he knew it wasn't. It was a little different than his son's voice, though Ash couldn't place his finger on what exactly.

"Yes, he's using Charizard!"

An amused smile appeared on Ash's face. _That_ was definitely Aiden! Pikachu, however, still appeared perplexed, and continued down the stairs and into the living room.

"Huh? Pikachu?" Ash murmured, following after his partner Pokémon. As soon as he saw what was on the TV, his face paled, and he started to incoherently sputter, causing his children to turn around and shoot him bewildered looks.

"Um…Dad…are you okay?" Michelle asked uncertainly.

"I think he might've eaten too much candy again," Aiden sighed, scratching his temple.

"Wh-where'd you two find this?!" Ash cried, pointing shakily at the television.

"We didn't find it anywhere," Aiden replied calmly. "They're showing it on one of the battle channels! It's a whole afternoon of throwback conferences!"

"So they picked this one?!" Ash hissed.

"You never _did_ tell me what happened in your first League battle," Aiden mused, turning back towards the TV. "Now I'll know!"

Ash groaned and began rummaging around the room. Pikachu understood what his trainer was doing and followed suit. Aiden was still invested in the battle, but Michelle was distracted by her father's antics. "Dad, what're you doing?"

"Looking for the remote!" Ash quickly cried. "I've got to turn this thing off…"

"Why?" Michelle chirped.

"Because…this battle is really boring," was Ash's lame excuse. "You guys are just gonna waste your time watching it!"

"Well, maybe not, since we don't know what actually happened," Michelle surmised. "Besides, you'll never find the remote. Aiden lives like a Raticate and packs stuff away all over the place. He's the only person who knows where he put it."

"And I won't tell you until this battle's over!" Aiden added, keeping his eyes glued to the screen.

Ash stood back up to his full height and scowled. Pikachu, in turn, sighed and lowered his ears. Michelle raised an eyebrow and figured it was worth it to once again ask, "what happened in this battle that you don't want us to know about?"

"Nothing!" Ash quickly replied. "I already told you, it's just boring."

Michelle was not convinced. "You would never call _any_ Pokémon battle boring. Seriously, what happened?"

Ash started to blush. "It's…just that-"

"Wait a sec…Charizard's not listening to you!"

Michelle looked over her shoulder towards the television. Charizard was lying lazily on the battlefield, his head resting in his claw as Ash frantically begged the dual type to get up and battle.

"That's not the Charizard I know…" Michelle murmured.

"Yeah, it is," Ash begrudgingly admitted. "He's gotten better over time, but Charizard is really stubborn. Back then…it was at its worst."

"Pi-ka," Pikachu confirmed, nodding his head.

"It wasn't the first time he'd refused to listen to me during a battle," Ash continued, sitting down beside the twins. He figured there was no use in hiding it from his children now. Either they'd hear it directly from him, or they'd watch the embarrassment unfold before their own eyes. Now that Ash was stuck, he wanted it to be the former. "That's why I was so nervous to send him out during a League match. But I didn't have a choice…he was my last resort. And, well, it backfired on me. Badly."

"Did he ever listen to you during the battle?" Aiden asked. He was now paying attention solely to his father, not the TV.

Ash smirked and shook his head. "No. He just…laid there. Stayed in one place. Wouldn't battle. Eventually, the referee called the match. And that's how I was eliminated from my first League tournament."

Aiden and Michelle both appeared shocked. Pikachu, who had already lived through this and remembered how badly it had affected Ash, glanced up sympathetically at his trainer. The raven haired man, however, was now showing off a more confident smile.

"It was a tough way to go out, but I learned a lot from that conference," Ash determined. "Like to still be proud of my accomplishments, even in failure, and that I could never give up if I wanted to achieve my goals. I knew after that, my Pokémon and I were just going to have to keep getting stronger together."

Aiden's face lit up. He could be stubborn at times (well, more often than not) but he greatly admired his father and tended to take the man's advice and anecdotes to heart. This one was certainly no exception. Michelle, however, appeared a bit more contemplative.

"How come you never told us this before now?" Michelle asked.

Ash laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "I was embarrassed, to be honest. I was worried if you guys knew about what happened in my first conference, you'd look at me differently. Guess I should learn to take my own advice, huh?"

Michelle giggled. "We'd never think anything different about you, Daddy! We love you!"

Ash grinned and pulled his daughter into a big hug, causing Pikachu to squeak and jump out of the way to avoid getting caught in the middle. "You're the sweetest, Shelly!"

The electric mouse, who had climbed onto Aiden's back, sighed tiredly. The boy smirked as he looked over at his father's trusted partner. "Yeah, I already told Michelle most of the famous trainers don't win their first major tournaments!"

"But you said _you_ will," Michelle scoffed, pulling away from her father as she narrowed her eyes at her brother.

Aiden proudly puffed his chest out. "I'll be the exception, not the rule."

"Yeah, you're an exception, alright," Michelle muttered.

Ash laughed loudly, taking the twins off guard. Normally, they would've been gently scolded for teasing one another. Of course, that was more _Misty's_ forte than Ash's.

"What's so funny?" Aiden couldn't help but to ask.

"You guys really do act like me and Mom when we were kids," Ash commented. "I bet you saw what she did to Ritchie before the match, huh?"

Aiden and Michelle exchanged looks.

"Um…no?" Michelle drawled.

Ash's face quickly fell. "What?"

"They only show the _actual matches_ from old conferences on this show," Aiden explained. "Nothing that happens before or after. Except for trophy presentations, sometimes."

Ash quickly grew flustered again. Sighing, Pikachu hopped off of Aiden's back and scurried towards the kitchen in search of food.

"What did _Mom_ do?!" Michelle asked excitedly, her own eyes now lighting up.

"N-nothing!" Ash stammered. "Forget I said anything!"

"No way!" Aiden cried. "What'd she do, Dad?!"

Ash whined and hunched his shoulders. "Two against one isn't fair, you know! Quit ganging up on me!"

"Please, we've been doing that since we were _babies_ ," Michelle teased. "We're not about to stop now!"

"Tell us what Mom did to Ritchie or I'll eat the leftover ice cream you tried hiding in the freezer," Aiden playfully threatened.

Ash's eyes widened. "You know about that?! It took me _forever_ to hide it!"

"I told you he's a pack Raticate," Michelle snickered. "We may not be able to find _his_ stuff, but he has no problem finding everyone else's. Now fess up or I'll help Aiden finish that ice cream!"

Ash huffed and turned his head away indignantly. "Fine. But don't tell Mom I told you! If you think _I'm_ bad at following my own advice, she's a _whole_ different Pokémon."


	68. Father's Day Photo Finish

**Happy Father's Day, everyone! I always love coming up with special one shots for Mother's Day and Father's Day; it's the perfect opportunity to really get into the relationship Ash and Misty each have with their kids!**

 **This one was especially fun to write because I included some parallels to the Mother's Day one shot I wrote last month. Enjoy!**

 **Aiden and Michelle: 8**

 **Elizabeth: 2**

* * *

 **Father's Day Photo Finish**

"Okay guys, what do we want to get Daddy for Father's Day?"

Misty's question fell on deaf ears; Aiden, Michelle, and Elizabeth were all busy swinging colorful foam pool noodles at one another. Sighing, she reached out and grabbed the toys, earning displeased whines and protests from her children.

"These are for the pool, not the lobby," Misty scolded, jerking her head towards the hallway that led to the gym pool. The family was currently standing in the middle of the lobby, having just returned from an outing to the local pool store to pick up supplies (and, inexplicably, three silly pool toys). "We're going to put them in there for later. Now, let's talk about Daddy's gift."

"Squ-itle!" Elizabeth cried.

"He already has a Squirtle," Aiden grumbled, furrowing his brow.

"Oh," Elizabeth squeaked, tilting her head before beaming and shrieking, "Buba-sauw!"

"He's got a Bulbasaur too," Aiden sighed, smacking a hand against his face.

Michelle chose to ignore her brother and sister while she wracked her brain for her own unique idea. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she cried, "oh, I know! Let's take a picture of all of Daddy's Pokémon and put it in a nice frame! Then he can have it in his office and see all his Pokémon all the time, even if he doesn't have all of them with him!"

A smile graced Misty's lips. "What a great idea, Shelly!"

Elizabeth, on the other hand, started to pout. "I wanna be in it."

"You know, we _could_ take a picture with all of the Pokémon and you three too," Misty mused. "I think a big photo of you guys with all of Daddy's Pokémon would really make him happy!"

"You think so?" Aiden asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course," Misty giggled. "He loves his Pokémon, and he loves the three of you. A picture like that would probably warm his heart!"

Elizabeth's jaw dropped. "No, Mommy! Don't huwt Daddy!"

"I don't mean literally, silly girl," Misty laughed, shaking her head. "It's just an expression!"

"A us-pression?" Elizabeth repeated.

"Yes, that's just something people say sometimes," Misty added. "You don't have to worry about Daddy!"

"Hey, Misty!"

The gym leader's eyes widened as she jumped a bit, which her children noticed. "But apparently I do. Here, can you guys take these to the battle area?"

She held the foam noodles out towards them, causing the children to nod as they took them back from her.

"Don't start swinging them at each other again," Misty calmly warned. "And make sure to keep your little sister away from the pool!"

The young trio disappeared from sight as soon as Ash appeared, his sights set solely on Misty.

"What's up?" Misty asked. "I thought you and Tracey were working on that thing for Daisy."

"We were, but then I heard you and the kids come back," Ash replied, a big smile on his face as he looked around the room. "Where are they?"

"Putting away the pool toys they somehow convinced me to buy them," Misty sighed.

"Yeah, they're really good at that," Ash chuckled. "Well, while they're not here, I can do this!"

He took a long stride forward and gave Misty quite the passionate kiss. While she was taken off guard at first, she eventually melted into it, and once he pulled away, quipped, "you do that in front of the kids all the time."

"Not like _that!_ " Ash stressed. "And even if I kiss you on the cheek, they start making faces and telling us we're gross."

"Because that's what kids do," Misty giggled. "They don't want to see their parents kiss!"

"Speaking of parents…are we going to do anything fun for Father's Day?" Ash asked slyly.

"You are so impatient!" Misty scolded. "Why don't you just wait and see?"

"Because I'm impatient," Ash deadpanned. "You just said it yourself, Mist!"

"Well, I'm not going to tell you anything," Misty rebuffed, gently swatting at her husband's chest. "Those three little angels of ours would absolutely kill me."

"Ah, so there's something!" Ash cheered.

"Of course there is; those kids adore you," Misty grumbled. "They would never let Father's Day go by without some kind of surprise. But I'm not going to give it away!"

"Alright, fine, I won't ask any more questions," Ash sighed. "But I do want to see the kids before I get back to work. You said they were by the pool?"

"I did," Misty confirmed, nodding her head.

"Okay," Ash replied nonchalantly. "Let's go see 'em!"

Without any other warning, Ash grabbed Misty and lifted her off the ground, causing her to shriek with surprise.

"Put me down!" She demanded, dissolving into giggles.

"Can't; we have to go see those three little angels!" Ash laughed, carrying her towards the battle area as her flailing halted and the smile on her face widened.

 **XXX**

"Thanks for agreeing to take this picture so last minute, Todd."

The brunet photographer looked up from the tripod he'd been assembling and smiled. "Don't mention it, Misty! You know I'm always happy to photograph for you guys; especially when it involves those adorable kids and Pokémon! Was this gift for Ash your idea?"

"I'd love to take credit, but it was all Michelle," Misty replied, nodding towards her older daughter. The girl was currently busy re-arranging some of the Pokémon; guiding Quilava to the other side of Totodile before grinning and nodding her head. "She's very sweet, and very creative. It never takes her long to figure out the perfect gift for someone!"

"That's precious!" Todd cooed. "You and Ash must be very proud of her."

"We sure are," Misty agreed. "Although Ash would scream it from a _rooftop_ if you let him. He would about all three of them. He's got to be the proudest father I've ever met in my life."

"You don't think that's adorable?" Todd asked, sounding almost disappointed.

"Oh no, it's the sweetest thing ever," Misty refuted with a laugh. "I would never change that about him."

"Good, because I was going to say that's so cute it actually hurts," Todd chuckled, turning back towards his tripod. "The camera should be all set up soon!"

"Take your time!" Misty assured the photographer. "I don't want to rush you."

"Mommy!"

Misty looked over her shoulder and saw Elizabeth running over to her. "What is it, baby?"

"Donphy and Leavy are pwaying!" Elizabeth squealed. "They pwayed wif me too, Mommy. They…they giveded me a leaf."

"A leaf?" Misty asked with a giggle, leading Elizabeth to nod her head. "Where is the leaf? I don't see it!"

"I giveded it to Ta-tewwa," Elizabeth replied.

"Oh, that's so sweet of you!" Misty crooned. "Sharing feels good, doesn't it?"

Elizabeth beamed and nodded her head.

"Are you ready to take the picture for Daddy?" Misty asked.

Elizabeth nodded again. "I -ove my dwess, Mommy!"

Misty giggled as Elizabeth twisted around, the skirt of her floral printed dress flaring out around her. "It's very pretty; just like you! Are your big brother and sister ready to take the picture, you think?"

"I dunno," Elizabeth murmured, shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, let's go see!" Misty decided, motioning towards the group behind them. Elizabeth laughed and spun around, running back towards them with her mother following closely behind.

Michelle was still busy arranging the Pokémon, while Aiden was sitting beneath a large tree nearby with Sceptile, who had his usual twig sticking out of his mouth.

"What are you two doing here?" Misty asked, sounding quite amused.

"I was trying to play with the Pokémon, but Michelle got all mad about it," Aiden scoffed, obviously annoyed. "She said I was going to get all dirty and ruin the picture. But I just wanted to have fun! Right, Sceptile?"

The forest Pokémon, who appeared to be half asleep, said nothing.

"I understand," Misty replied, smirking at Sceptile before turning her attention back onto her son. "But Michelle is only trying to make sure Daddy's picture comes out just right. You know she likes things to be perfect! As soon as we're done, you can play with the Pokémon. I promise."

"Can you make her go faster?" Aiden whined, pointing at his twin. "She's been moving everyone around _forever!_ "

"I'll go ask," Misty assured him.

She approached her older daughter, who was, as Aiden had complained, still hard at work. Elizabeth had rejoined the Pokémon previously and was now messing around with Corphish, who she had a bit of a unique relationship with; the two were generally thick as thieves and loved getting into mischief together, but they also had a habit of getting on one another's nerves and picking fights with each other.

"How's it going?" Misty conversationally asked the girl.

"Okay," Michelle sighed, indicating it wasn't really. "I feel like I can't get everyone in the right spot!"

"It looks good to me," Misty murmured, surveying the group in front of her.

"Yeah, but good's not perfect," Michelle complained.

"Not everything has to be perfect, Shelly," Misty giggled. "You know Daddy is going to love this no matter what!"

Michelle was about to argue but was cut off by a high-pitched shriek. Whipping her head around, her eyes widened when she realized what was going on; the front of Elizabeth's dress was now covered in dirt, a nervous looking Corphish standing beside her.

"Phishy!" Elizabeth stormed, stomping her feet. "You gotted me diwty!"

"Corphish! Cor!" The ruffian Pokémon fussed.

"Why were Elizabeth and Corphish together?!" Michelle cried. "I would've never put them together; they fight too much!"

"Something tells me they buddied up while you were busy with the other Pokémon," Misty mused, wincing. She knew how things typically got when Elizabeth and Corphish began butting heads, and it wasn't good.

"Now Elizabeth's got a dirty dress on," Michelle grumbled, her aggravation increasing. "And you're gonna see it in the picture, and it's gonna look horrible!"

"It'll be fine!" Misty tried to comfort her daughter. "Your little sister is only two, it's normal for her to be a bit messy."

"No, it isn't!" Michelle cried. "Elizabeth is never messy! Maybe other kids her age are, but Elizabeth isn't! And Daddy knows that!"

"Michelle, I know that this is important to you and you want everything to be perfect, but we can't always have that, especially when our family is involved," Misty sighed. "If you haven't noticed by now, we tend to be a bit unorganized."

"Not me!" Michelle wailed.

While Michelle was fussing to her mother, Elizabeth, who was still seething, bent down and gathered up dirt and grass into her little fists.

"I'm gonna get you, Phishy!" Elizabeth cried, holding her hands above her head.

Corphish cried out in alarm and scuttled away from the toddler, who growled and started chasing after the water type.

"Elizabeth, no!" Misty scolded, taking off towards her younger daughter. Michelle, in turn, buried her face in her hands and groaned. All the ruckus, meanwhile, had finally garnered Aiden's attention and coaxed him out from beneath the tree. When he saw Corphish running from Elizabeth, and Misty chasing after the both of them, he blinked and turned towards Michelle.

"What'd I miss?" He asked.

"Corphish and Elizabeth got into it and I'm pretty sure Corphish threw dirt on Elizabeth's dress," Michelle grumbled. "So now Elizabeth is chasing Corphish with her own fistfuls of dirt."

Aiden watched the chase for another few moments before bursting out into laughter, much to Michelle's annoyance. "What's so funny?!"

Aiden snickered before commenting, "and you were worried about _me_ getting _my clothes_ dirty playing with the Pokémon."

 **XXX**

When Father's Day rolled around, and his children presented him with his gift, Ash couldn't understand for the life of him why Michelle looked borderline traumatized.

"Uh…everything okay, Shelly?" Ash asked sweetly.

Michelle only responded with an unsure noise. Misty sighed and shook her head, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"She's fine," Misty assured him. "Open your gift!"

Ash was not convinced, but he figured he could deal with it on his own after he'd opened the present. Michelle tended to open up to him when no one else was around, so he figured it was just one of those instances. When he unwrapped the gift, he was greeted with a framed photo of all his Pokémon at Professor Oak's ranch along with Aiden, Michelle, and Elizabeth. As he examined the photo, his face lit up, and a huge smile overtook his face.

"Wow, this is so cool!" Ash marveled. "Look how cute you guys look! And you really managed to get all the Pokémon in here! Even Pikachu!"

"Chu!" The mouse squeaked.

"I was wondering why Misty needed to borrow you so bad," Ash chuckled. "Now I know why!"

"Dad, did you see the best part of the picture?!" Aiden exclaimed.

Michelle suddenly sprung to life, leaning forward. "Aiden, quit it!"

"What's the best part?" Ash asked, genuinely curious.

"Look at Lizzie's dress!" Aiden laughed, pointing at the little girl. "And Corphish right next to her!"

Ash took a closer look and furrowed his brow. "Are they both…covered in dirt?"

"Yep!" Aiden crowed.

"Phishy stawted it!" Elizabeth cried.

Michelle cringed, but relaxed when her father started laughing. "You and Corphish were being naughty again, huh?"

"Ya," Elizabeth replied, nodding her head.

"How come you two like to argue so much?" Ash asked, his voice quite teasing.

"I dunno!" Elizabeth whined. "Phishy and I awe fwiends!"

"Yeah, but you guys fight sometimes, right?" Ash chuckled.

Elizabeth pursed her lips and nodded again, this time more sheepishly.

"Well, you both look happy here, so I guess you weren't _too_ mad at each other!" Ash noted.

"Michelle was upset because she thought the picture wasn't perfect," Misty explained, causing the younger girl to blush. "You should've seen how long she spent arranging all of the Pokémon and making everything just right!"

"But then Corphish and Elizabeth fought and messed it all up," Michelle grumbled.

"No way, I think it's perfect just like this!" Ash refuted.

"Really?" Michelle questioned, not sounding convinced.

Ash grinned and nodded his head. "I really like that that's in the picture! It reminds me of all the fun we've had with my Pokémon. You guys know how much I love it that you all have a great time together!"

"I guess…" Michelle murmured.

"Besides, we're not perfect," Ash continued. "I know that stuff like that bothers you, Shelly, but it's okay that we're not! I don't really think anybody is perfect. But you guys and your mom come pretty close!"

"Aw, that's so sweet!" Misty cooed, now blushing a bit herself.

Ash placed the photo down by his side and, with his arms free, gathered the rest of the family together. "I can tell you guys put a lot of thought into that gift, and it means a lot to me. I'm so lucky I have all of you!"

Elizabeth, who adored all kinds of attention but _especially_ from her father, giggled wildly as she wrapped her arms around Ash's neck. Aiden, who had become less enamored with affection as he'd gotten older, grunted a bit, but otherwise didn't struggle against his father and gave him an endearing sideways smile. Michelle, who had finally accepted that her father truly loved the gift and was extremely happy, hugged his side and rested her head against his chest.

Misty, meanwhile, gave Ash a kiss on the temple, causing him to look up and smile at her.

"You're pretty close to perfect too, you know," Misty quipped.

Ash chuckled sheepishly. "I don't know about that, Mist."

"That's okay, I do," Misty replied with a loving smirk.


End file.
